For kids sake, an idea kept alive on a shoestring
Niger Ali is writing a script for a kids' TV show. About physics. "The basis of everything," the Freedom Prep High School freshman explains, "is physics."
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Niger Ali is writing a script for a kids' TV show.
About physics.
"The basis of everything," the Freedom Prep High School freshman explains, "is physics."
Ali, 14, has a chance to write, produce, and host the show of his dreams because of the Institute for Development of Education in the Arts, or IDEA.
The nonprofit organization offers classes in the 130-seat "black box" theater complex - "we call it the IDEA Performing Arts Center," president Cynthia Primas says - at the BB&T Pavilion on the Camden waterfront.
"We focus on using the arts as a mechanism for change," says Primas, who earned a master's degree in education from Temple University and helped found IDEA in 1996.
"We give kids an opportunity to have their voice be heard through the arts. The arts can be a platform for speaking about their lives."
In the 20 years that IDEA has offered programs in the city, and during its eight-year waterfront tenancy, its fortunes have risen and fallen.
But Primas and her vision endure: To provide students, most of whom live in Camden, with inexpensive or free classes in dance, theater, visual arts, and audio/video production.
About 150 students between the ages of 7 and 19 currently attend IDEA classes. The organization's $50,000 annual budget is supported mainly by fees, grants, and donations. Primas does not draw a salary, and neither do her instructors.
"I couldn't do this if it wasn't for my husband," says Primas, a freelance diversity trainer and consultant. She and Theo, a lawyer, live in Mount Laurel.
"You either have to be crazy to do this," she adds, "or have passion."
I've known Primas for 20 years - she was an early advocate for what is now the city's Creative and Performing Arts High School when I was reporting about Camden back in the '90s. Her dedication has never been in doubt.
"IDEA is an organization that reaches and teaches creativity of the mind, body, and spirit," says Martha Chavis, executive director of the Camden Area Health Education Center.
"The music, poetry, artwork, and dance projects Cynthia and her staff have developed, facilitated, and supported over the years have [been enjoyed by] thousands of Camden City children, youth, and adults as consumers, patrons or participants," Chavis adds.
"I had no idea this program was right here in Camden," says freelance video producer Christina Collins, who's helping a trio of young women develop their talk show concept.
"It's going to be about putting the spotlight on positive people in Camden, like athletes or people who are doing well in academics," says Elisabeth Martin, 15, of Pennsauken, a Paul VI High School sophomore.
In an adjacent room, local actor Ricki Burroughs Jr., 35, is preparing a half-dozen elementary school students to make 30-second public service announcements. Among the subjects: Avoiding germs.
"I like working with kids," says Burroughs, who lives in Palmyra, and who has acted in commercials and movies. "They have a lot more ideas than you might think."
As I visit the two classes, I'm struck by the collaborative nature of the process.
"Every child is coming up with a show idea," notes Collins. "Our parents are involved, too."
There's a familial vibe in the house; parent Dania Daniels of Camden says her two children, ages 5 and 4, want to be on the Disney Channel.
"They are excited to see themselves on TV," she says.
Says Ali's dad, also named Niger: "My son has always sought ways to prove he can be better than perceptions, and history."
The older Ali, a 39-year-old chess instructor, adds that by their participation in IDEA classes, his son and daughter (Zhashiya, 9) "will have an opportunity to excel beyond the expectations [for] residents of the city."
Even if the screen is a video monitor in the studio, or on a laptop, the PSAs eventually will be posted on the "IDEA-Video-Magazine" page on Facebook.
Other video projects can be seen on the organization's website (idea-arts.org).
Many of the clips are feature performances by students, while others have a documentary feel about what it's like to be a kid in Camden.
"We're telling the real stories of the heroes and sheroes of the community," says Primas, who, as head of a city arts organization that operates on a shoestring, knows a thing or two about struggle.
"I'm one of those people who never gives up," she says. "We will get IDEA on a firm foundation. I firmly believe that if I keep holding onto this dream, there will be a way."
856-779-3845 @inqkriordan