On a Saturday, 50 children from a Lower East Side community center are paired with volunteers to celebrate African Art Day. After a full morning of art activities- creating beaded collars, drums and masks- all enjoy lunch and a live magical performance. A twelve year old girl declares her favorite part of the day to be: "When we made the drum because...we did it together."

Free Arts Days are daylong festivals of art activities during which 50-100 children are paired with volunteer “buddies” in a 1:1 volunteer-to-child ratio. Hand-in-hand with their “buddies,” kids rotate through art projects based on the day’s theme, giving them the opportunity to explore different artistic materials and providing a structure around which the children and mentors can bond. At the end of the day, they enjoy a related dance, theatre, or other live performance. In 2006, 963 volunteers and facilitators worked with 999 children in 27 Free Arts Day programs.

Themes for 2007 include:

• Transportation Day – a day of arts inspired by planes, trains and automobiles.

Projects include: Wooden Train Sculptures, Airplane Mobiles, Wacky Rides Collage, Hot Air Balloons, and Glitter Ships

• Incredible Edible Art Day – a day of arts inspired by the culinary world.

Projects include: Potato Block Prints, Candy Necklaces and Model Magic Food Sculptures

• Teen Poetry Slam Day – a day of arts inspired by the written word.

Projects include: Wooden Word Sculptures, Magnetic Poetry, Envelope Poetry Books

• The Art of the Game Teen Free Arts Day – a day of arts inspired by the wide world of sports.

Projects include: Baseball Caps, Sports Trophy Sculptures and Sports Advertisement