The 6th Street Band, comprised of Heritage High School students, performs during "Ignite," a fundraiser for ReGenerate.ReGenerate Core Group
* Caroline West — Girls Preparatory School* Phoebe West — GPS* Tess Burns — Center for Creative Arts* Kinsey Clark — Collegiate High at Chattanooga State* Parth Doshi — Chattanooga School for the Arts and Scienes* Ben Mills — Hixson High School* Phoebe Mills — GPS* Kobe Smith — East Hamilton High School* Zach Steiman — Collegiate High at Chattanooga State Community College
ReGenerate Grants
* Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts: Teaching Theatre@CSLA for theater supplies.* The Dawn School: Art Gallery Walk for art supplies for the Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support System.* Donaldson Elementary Science Academy: Creating a Composter Portrait Gallery for art supplies so students could cerate ethnically diverse portraits of musical composers.* Hardy Elementary and Halewood Science Academy: Girls Art Leadership Program for filmmaking, live theater and visual art supplies to help teach conflict-resolution skills.* Harrison Elementary: Art Enrichment Club to provide students with education through visual arts.* Orchard Knob Elementary: Violins for Critical Thinking to buy violins and books.* Spring Creek Elementary: Strings Come to Life for instruments and arts supplies
It's been three years since Thomas West - then a McCallie School student - conceived, created and pounded the pavement himself to fund "Let Beauty Awaken," a fundraising initiative designed to raise money for arts in underfunded Hamilton County schools.
Last week, the current group of high school students involved in the project - now called ReGenerate - had the pleasure of deciding which grant applicants would share in the nearly $1,500 they helped raise this past year. There were 15 applicants, and the students decided to present grants to seven.
"That was very fulfilling," says current ReGenerate Vice President and President-elect Phoebe Warren.
The grants will go toward things such as art supplies, musical instruments and teaching materials. They also can be used for start-up or ongoing arts programs.
West's initial vision was repackaged and renamed ReGenerate almost immediately after he came up with the idea, but his dream and vision have been passed on to other Hamilton County students, including his younger sister, Caroline. She joined the volunteer group at the start and served as vice president in 2014-15 and president this past year. A violinist who recently graduated from Girls Preparatory School, she will attend Johns Hopkins University in the fall; Warren will be a senior at GPS next year.
Like her brother, Caroline discovered an incredible need for better arts funding in area schools as well as a challenging environment when it comes to finding those dollars.
"I remember going to the Hamilton County School Board and everyone was so nice," she says. "Thomas spoke, and we shook everyone's hand. They all said how great what we were doing was. We were so excited, but then we found out art was not a priority."
While she and Warren firmly believe in the work they've been doing, it has been tough getting their message out and to the right people, the ones who can provide the needed funding.
"I don't think people understand that this is student-driven," Caroline West says. "We are all students doing this for other students."
Thomas West conceived the idea for "Let Beauty Awaken" in 2013 after visiting Dalewood Middle School along with fellow McCallie student John Burton. A vocalist who was there to perform, West was stunned and dismayed to discover how little exposure Dalewood students had to the arts. The teachers were doing what they could, primarily with their own money and resources, West said at the time, but he also was shocked to learn that, of the 50 students he sang for that day, only 10 had ever been inside the Tivoli Theatre.
He decided to do something about the situation not only at Dalewood but in other Hamilton County public schools. He came up with the idea of a showcase featuring student musicians, dancers and artists. He also wanted to record a CD with music created by local student musicians.
With the help of some friends, he knocked on every door he could think of, including the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera, Chattanooga Theatre Centre Producing Manager George Quick and Red Crow Studio owner Ross Carlson, who eventually recorded the CD. The showcase was held at the Theatre Centre and, when all was said and done, more than $14,000 was raised that first year, Thomas West says.
After graduating from McCallie, he headed north to the Julliard School to study classical voice, and ReGenerate looked to get its feet under it with the help and advice of Rodney Van Valkenburg, director of grants and initiatives at ArtsBuild, the local arts advocacy group. Thomas West was adamant that the group be completely student-led and driven, but he realized it would need sound advice, especially since it would be dealing with potentially large amounts of money.
"ArtsBuild gives it the ethos it needs," Warren says. "Rodney is great for when we need advice."
Meeting twice a month last year, the dozen or so core group of students focused on several objectives. The first was Ignite, a fundraiser featuring local students who performed everything from dance to music.
ReGenerate is also partnered with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga departments of art, music and theater for a new program called ArtStart, which is designed to help young, aspiring artists understand how to have a career in the arts.
The ReGenerate students also were introduced to local artists and arts organizations around town in an effort to broaden their own horizons so they might go back to their schools and share what they had seen and learned. They've also heard from guest speakers on a variety of arts-related topics such as the Dosti Music Project, which brought musicians from India, Pakistan and the United States to town as part of a month-long Southeastern tour and workshop.
"It's about personal development similar to the Holmberg for Teachers Leadership Institute [for adults]," a four-month program that teaches leadership skills to teachers, says Van Valkenburg.
"I feel very much more connected to the art world in town, now," Warren says.
Both Warren and Caroline West are confident that ReGenerate is having an impact on local students.
"I feel like it is making a change," Warren says. "The grant program is what I'm most excited about. Helping teachers start a program or provide art students is powerful."
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6354.