BAP Project: Heart for Art

Art is the tool that can be used to grow strong and well-grounded individuals, afterschool programmes such as Heart for Art can boost academic performance, reduce negative behaviours, promote physical well-being, and provide a safe environment for children. It is more than just putting brush to canvas, lessons like these can help children attain the qualities that will see them grow into well rounded adults. Collette Ilongo, a participant in our project, is a walking example of the benefits these programmes can have. She recently completed an activity called the Gratitude Pet, a collage art work. This activity encourages appreciation of domestic animals and fosters care for animals in children. This appreciation leads to the gratitude for the love that our animals can give us and for the beauty animals add to our experience of our world. Learning to appreciate and be grateful filters out into all aspects of our lives. These is one of many lessons in the Heart for Art Project. [Continue Reading]

Collette Ilongo, standing tall and proud with her framed artwork. A result of a lesson from our Heart for Art project.

BAP’s Heart for Art project, based in our Art Centre in Vrygrond is a centre where CAFs have experiential learning of the teaching methodologies gained through our training with the support of qualified and experienced organisational managers, an occupational therapist and lesson implementors. At Heart for Art, CAFs who have qualified through our Training Programme implement classes with local children, testing the learned teaching methodologies, taking on lesson plan development and learning how best to utilise BAP’s Child Development Assessment Tool. This centre is also where BAP continuously monitors the ability of CAFs to implement what they learned through our training.

More images of our Heart for Art Programme: