The Sun Rises On Arts Education: An Interview With Apricus Arts

Article by Quinton Kern

Arts education is becoming increasingly rare in American public schools, despite pushback from students, parents, and teachers alike. One new group, Apricus Arts, is trying to fight the effects of this decline, and I got the opportunity to interview two of the founding members, Emma and Rebecca, on the origin, goals, and future of their organization.

The main function of Apricus Arts is providing free private lessons to children in their community who don’t have access to arts education. Interested students are paired with a volunteer mentor who is experienced in whatever creative field they are interested in. The group is also involved in bolstering and bringing back arts education in the California public school system, as budget cuts and issues caused by the pandemic have worsened the problems that are plaguing arts education.

Apricus seems to focus quite a bit on music education, but Rebecca and Emma tell me that they try to branch out into whatever their students are interested in learning, saying “We have students tell us what they’re interested in learning, and if we don’t already have a volunteer who can teach them, we put them on a waitlist for when we do find someone.” Currently, they’re planning on offering lessons on playing instruments, singing, theatre, dancing, creative writing, and visual arts. I asked about the origins of their organization, and Rebecca told me, “Emma and I met through a theatre program when we were younger. The arts are really important to us, so we decided we wanted to give back to our community in a way that honored that feeling. Not all kids have the same resources that allowed us to thrive when we were younger, so we want to make it a bit easier to find that kind of support and education.” Their group now includes many other high school students from their area who are passionate about Apricus’ cause.

While plans to start Apricus Arts had been in the works for a while, the organization didn’t officially get started until around September of last year. When I asked how things have been in the early days, Emma said, “Things have been pretty hectic, especially with all the legal nitty-gritty that needs to be done, but we have a great team to support us.” She mentions that while all of the legal business that comes with starting an organization isn’t exactly riveting, the time she spends working with the other members keeps her excited for when Apricus is fully-fledged. Unfortunately, since Apricus is still getting things figured out, they aren’t able to begin taking in more volunteers, but updates on that will be on their social media and website.

Emma and Rebecca walked me through the process of becoming a volunteer mentor that they’ll use once they can begin accepting applicants. After filling out a sign-up sheet where they can say which fields they’d like to be a mentor for, applicants must submit an audition video that helps the team get a feel for their skill level. They’ll also go through a general interview to talk about their teaching style, and accepted mentors will go through a training course to help them with keeping their students engaged.

Even in the early days, Apricus is already looking for ways to expand their services, such as doing instrument drives to get the often expensive instruments into the hands of eager students, as well as general expansion of their arts education advocacy. When schools get hit with budget cuts, the arts are almost always the first to go. Hence, it's nice to see that the students who have become invested in their craft over the years are stepping up to fill the role of arts mentors. Follow Apricus Arts @apricusartsinc on Instagram, and join their email list at www.apricusarts.org

Quinton Kern is a freelance writer living in Grand Rapids, Michigan, reachable at kernq@mail.gvsu.edu