THE PALM BEACH POST
Thursday, March 7, 2002
WORKSHOP FOR KIDS IS ONLY SNAPSHOT
OF CREATOR'S VISION
Section: ACCENT
Edition: FINAL
Page: 1E
By Douglas Kalajian, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Caption: TAYLOR JONES/Staff Photographer
Carlton Cartwright is the only full-time employee of
The Children's Coalition Inc., of which he is executive director. He
teaches media skills such as computer graphics and photography to
at-risk youths.
Carlton Cartwright's workroom over O'Shea's Irish Pub
on Clematis Street is so jam-packed with papers, photographs, cameras,
film, computers and boxes full of who-knows-what that it's hard to tell
how big the place really is.
What's clear is that it isn't big enough.
"I'm looking at some property near City Place,"
he says. "There's a lot more we could do if we just had the space
for it."
That's just the beginning of Cartwright's ambitious
if list, which is a must-hear for anyone who inquires about the
multimedia workshop at the core of his organization.
Just what is this program all about?
"We need some G3 computers, and two more digital cameras . . .
"
Carlton, let's try this again.
"I just have to get this in," he says, grinning. "With
the state budget so tight, the grants aren't as easy to come by. We need
more people to get involved. We need . . . "
Carlton, please hold that thought while we step into the next room to
see for ourselves. It's nearly as crowded, but a lot more orderly: Two
dozen chairs face computer screens. The chairs at the computer desks are
filling with after-school kids.
Teacher Loretta del Sosa and a handful of high school and college
volunteers help get everyone powered up and scrolling along.
"Sometimes, the little kids do things on a computer that I've never
seen," says old hand and helper Britany Glasper, 12, a student at
the Middle School of the Arts. "It's pretty neat to go to school
the next day and say I learned something from a 7-year-old."
It's pretty neat that they're working with computers at all.
"A lot of them don't have much, certainly not this kind of
equipment," says Cartwright, putting his list aside
for the moment. "They come from hopelessness and abject
poverty."
Many carry invisible-but-real labels: inner-city, at-risk, repeat
offender. Social service agencies, police agencies and judges have been
sending kids Cartwright's way since 1994, when he
founded the nonprofit organizaton. Others come Cartwright's
way from city recreation programs and schools. He also squeezes in a few
middle- and high-schoolers who show both talent and a desire to help
kids who are less fortunate.
Cartwright's mission is to boost self-esteem and
stimulate imaginations by teaching such varied media skills as computer
graphics and video and still photography.
"It's wonderful just to put a camera in their hands," says Cartwright,
48, who learned photography in the Air Force more than 20 years ago.
"Most of them have never held one before. I can show them how to
use it. But I don't have money for film. I really need a grants
writer."
In need of grants
He could really use a few more Carlton Cartwright's.
The executive director is also the coalition's only full-time employee.
He manages to keep up a seven-day-a-week schedule, bouncing among
schools and shelters and then getting back to Clematis in time for the
after-school crowd. The program reaches about 120 kids a month.
Two years ago, he had a budget of $127,000. For 2001, the dwindling
grant pool left him with less than half that. Already this year he's
having trouble meeting the payroll: He's two months behind in collecting
his $52,000-a-year salary.
But he has scored some recent coups: A couple of foundation grants
delivered $5,500 to take Cartwright and six of his
students - "all good kids" who are learning media skills while
volunteering at Cartwright's center - to Utah in January
for the Sundance Film Festival. An additional $8,000 from the city of
West Palm Beach bought new digital video equipment to go along.
While independent professional filmmakers competed for prizes, Cartwright's
contingent attended workshops and showed off their projects. Their
centerpiece was Images III, the documentary that took first place in the
high school category at last year's Palm Beach International Film
Festival. They also brought Images IV, a work in progress.
Both short films deliver rapid-fire images of Children's Coalition
members, their work and their surroundings - scenes from West Palm Beach
to Pahokee, from wetlands to wildlife. "There were no awards, but
our stuff got the most applause from the other kids who saw it," Cartwright
says.
It was a trip full of firsts: Snow, mountains and celebrities.
"I saw Jennifer Aniston and George Clooney," says Demi
Glasper, 13, a Middle School of the Arts student like her sister.
"I know that was him in the restaurant window."
The Sundance Institute's Gen Y Studio workshops aimed at budding
filmmakers were eye-opening, too.
"I never knew there was so much to the process," says
Jeffrey Salazar, 17, from Palm Beach Lakes High School. "It was a
great experience to see all those films, to get involved with something
new."
A vehicle for expression
Between workshops and showings, the Children's Coalition crew shot
432 still photos and three hours of video. "We're going to make a
film about the Sundance experience," Cartwright
says. The biggest challenge might be finding the elbow room necessary to
edit what's been shot.
That's what has Cartwright out looking at property,
even before he figures out how he'd pay for it. "If we had our own
place, we could build a film production studio," he says. He won't
look far from home.
"One of our big goals is to show there's a place for children of
color in downtown West Palm Beach," he says. "Not just as a
place to hang out, but to accomplish something."
Cartwright figures that showing off their
accomplishments to an ever-wider audience will help attract support.
Meanwhile, he's also trying to draw more kids into the program.
"We could reach more kids if we had transportation," Cartwright
says. "The county has a van for me, but I need $8,500 for
insurance."
Is that all?
"If we got $10,000, we'd have money for gas, too," he says.
The "if" list just goes on and on.
(The
Children's Coalition Inc.
is on the Internet at
www.fyicomminc.com/tcci/tcci.htm.)
doug_kalajian@pbpost.com
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