Refilwe Community Center
From 2008 to 2011, ASTEP partnered with Refilwe Community Center, an organization that addresses the critical needs of disadvantaged communities affected by HIV/AIDS north of Johannesburg. Through a dedicated team of staff and volunteers, Refilwe provides educational and skills building training, foster care for orphaned and vulnerable children, income-generating activities, and medical care.
During this partnership, ASTEP and Refilwe piloted seven arts programs that helped establish youth services for the Refilwe community. The goal was to use the arts to provide educational, training, and mentoring programs aimed at equipping the community to be self-sustainable in every aspect of their lives. Together, ASTEP and Refilwe served 150 participants and placed 10 volunteers. We will forever be deeply grateful for the friendships and experiences that were shaped during our time together.
Ubuntu Education Fund
Between the summer of 2005 and the winter of 2007, ASTEP sent volunteer artists to facilitate programming for students and health care professionals in Port Elizabeth, South Africa with the Ubuntu Education Fund. Ubuntu is dedicated to developing quality education and healthy communities in the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa, and we’re honored to have been a part of their developing efforts. During those three years, ASTEP placed 16 volunteers to serve more than 250 students and staff through 10 workshops. Participants created and performed songs, scenes, and dances about their present challenges and hopes for the future. In the summer of 2007, David Turner, an ASTEP Board member, documented our volunteers efforts surrounding a special trip students took to watch The Lion King in Johannesburg. [Watch the short documentary about this noteworthy occasion.]
ASTEP volunteers continued to make yearly visits to reconnect with the Ubuntu community. In particular, volunteers have remained connected with a handful of unique students that served as teaching assistants during the workshops. These students demonstrated an interest in pursuing artistic careers, and the ASTEP volunteers did their best to provide motivating opportunities to develop their artistry. Together, they filmed music videos, documentaries, and an adaption of Suzi Lori-Parks’ In the Blood. As of 2011, these students continue to pursue their careers as performers and writers, producing music and plays throughout South Africa.
We are deeply grateful for the time we gave to the community in Port Elizabeth and are especially grateful to Dr. Joseph Polisi and Vincent Mai for having suggested, encouraged, and championed our work in South Africa. We are who we are today as an organization thanks to these students, mentors, and volunteers. We will never forget: “Love to Live, Live to Learn, and Learn to be Ourselves!”
Young at Arts
In the winter of 2007, ASTEP was approached by Camille Zamora (Co-Founding Director of Sing For Hope) to collaborate with Sharyn Pirtle and Young At Arts. Sharyn founded Young At Arts (YAA) in 2004 in an effort to empower young people in the Bronx and Southern Westchester to reach their full potential, onstage and off, through outstanding arts instruction and the creation of exceptional musical and theatrical art. We committed to a two-year partnership and placed 25 ASTEP volunteer artists, who served over 70 Young At Arts participants through the weekly afterschool program, summer camps, fundraisers, and special events for the entire family.
The partnership between ASTEP, Sing For Hope, and Young At Arts provided ASTEP with its first opportunity to recommend volunteer artists for paid teaching positions. Although the artists who work with ASTEP are appreciative of the experience they gain through our volunteer opportunities, they are always on the lookout for paying positions that will help them combine their passion for the arts and community service. This partnership was therefore a catalyst for several of our volunteer artists who were able to develop and strengthen their teaching credentials—a few have gone on to serve as faculty and program directors with other organizations where they continue to demonstrate the value of arts education in our community and pave the way for other ASTEP students and alum.
As our first partnership in New York City, we remain grateful to Camille and Sharyn for allowing us to serve the Young At Arts community. We hope that both their organizations will continue to build on the connections and foundations we established in 2008 and 2009. To quote a song from one of our most memorable moments working together: “I’ve heard it said, that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn, and we are led, to those who help us most to grow, if we let them, and we help them in return!”
