This year, the supporters of Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine came together and helped us build a fourth core program pillar: Arts. We have always worked the arts into our three program pillars, Academics, Leadership, and Health & Wellness, but realized that this crucial discipline needed special attention. Together with our family of donors, we reinvented our art programs to include an array of art classes ranging from painting, drawing, sculpting to dance, music, and theater for elementary, middle, and high school students to explore their creative talents. We believe every child and teen has the potential to be an artist. This fall, a Portland Club Member, showed us how right we are.

Boys & Girls Club National Art Contest

Each year, BGCSM joins thousands of Clubs across the country in the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s National Arts Contest, a comprehensive initiative promoting young peoples' creativity and encouraging artistic skills and cultural enrichment. BGCSM submitted 177 pieces of artwork created by our members, who range from ages 6-18. The pieces were screened at the regional level, and a limited number were selected for judging at the national level. This past August, regional winners were judged by professionally recognized artists virtually. Their decisions were difficult and resulted in only 33 National Fine Arts winners.