Asian Arts Initiative is teaching students to build and fund their own website

Jackie Jing said he comes to the Youth Arts Workshop at the Asian Arts Initiative nearly every day “because my friends are here.” The sixth grader from Holy Redeemer Chinese Catholic School, whose other after school activity is traditional Chinese lion dancing, joins the 26 other sixth to eighth graders currently enrolled in the program to work on projects for about two hours and then do homework until they are picked up. A teaching artist and several assistants are on hand to assist the students.
This year, the students are creating a student-run website about Philly’s Chinatown, designed for other children their age. It’s another local effort to engage youth in technology.

The program is split up into three semesters, where they work on different aspects of the overall project. The goal during the fall is to raise money to purchase the website platform. The students have been creating holiday crafts like Chinatown photo zines and plushies to sell at their community craft fair on Dec. 10. Half the profits go directly to the students and the other half goes toward paying for the website. The goal for winter and spring is to complete coding and layout for the website.
The program is funded by both the city and the state, grants and donations. It is free for the students and provides them SEPTA tokens for transit.

Soumya Dhulekar, the current teaching artist in residence, started as an assistant last June and became the lead teaching artist in September.
Dhulekar had multiple teaching internships while pursuing her degree at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. She said the position at YAW is “right up my alley because I had a lot of experience working with youth.”
She said the position has taught her about project management, especially with the longterm website project and the smaller daily projects.
“The program can be kind of unpredictable,” Dhulekar added. “On any given day, I have to be ready for something that might throw off the [schedule].”
Dhulekar said the program not only provides students with consistency after school, but also daily access to art. It’s not the technical side of art that’s important, but what’s applicable and what the students can take out into the community. It is also important that the students have a voice and an audience who looks at their art, she said.
“We’re really lucky to have the kids we have. … They’re ambitious and opinionated,” Dhulekar said. “My favorite moment is when a kid insists they don’t want to do something and they end up not only doing it, but excelling at it.”