Sampling Silly Sounds
“What’s the silliest noise you can think of?” That’s often a very important question Snow City Arts’ music teaching artist Lenny Zieben asks after finding out whether a child in the hospital is interested in making music. When a student wants to play guitar, keyboard, or even ukulele, Zieben pulls out that instrument and they start creating. Some want to go in a different direction and use samples and effects to create a new, innovative piece of music, while other [...]
And….Action!
An hour ago, the tray in front of Nicholas in his hospital bed held his lunch. Now it’s the streets of Tokyo. Nicholas has lined up some of his kaiju monster action figures: Godzilla, Mechagodzilla, Mothra, Rodan, SpaceGodzilla. He keeps adding more and more, asking Jonathan Stein, a Snow City Arts visual arts teaching artist, to pull favorites from a bag on the floor next to the bed to show off. They’re the manifestation of his love for monster movies [...]
Remembering Katie
All of us at Snow City Arts are sad to share that we have recently lost an important member of our family. Katie Kurcz, a founding co-chair of our Auxiliary Board, passed away peacefully on Friday, May 12, after a long battle with cancer. Her contributions and dedication to our organization have had a profound impact on the success we share today. Co-founded by Katie and Debbie Smith in 2011, the Auxiliary Board at Snow City Arts has raised nearly [...]
Picasso Project a Unique Gateway to Drawing
The teaching artists at Snow City Arts have a saying, “Choice is voice.” The children they work with don’t have much say about what happens throughout their time in the hospital. Tests, treatments, doctor visits, meals, mobility: these decisions are made by the medical staff. So from the first thing the teaching artists say when they poke their head in the door—“Would you like to make art today?”—the artists prioritize the student’s autonomy and respect their space. If they choose [...]
Snow City Arts is Expanding!
Snow City Arts is thrilled to announce its newest hospital partnership, and its first venture outside the city of Chicago! We have recently started working on the pediatric unit at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, Illinois. Snow City Arts is the only organization of its kind working in the Chicagoland area. Since 1998, Snow City Arts has transformed hospital rooms into art studios, inspiring and educating children and youth in hospitals through creating art. Until this year, all [...]