News Photo by Darby Hinkley Fourth-grade students from Hinks Elementary School visit Art in the Loft on Wednesday morning to learn culinary skills from instructor Jess Krawczak, pictured to the left of students. The students spent time learning about nutrition and cooking in the kitchen, then headed over to the classroom at Art in the Loft to learn some artistic skills from instructor Mariah Brancheau.

ALPENA — Fourth-grade students have been learning their way around the kitchen, and participating in art projects at Art in the Loft as part of the Ready, Set, Create! program.

On Wednesday, instructor Jess Krawczak taught fourth-grade students from Hinks Elementary School how to make a balanced, nutritious meal, featuring all the colors of the rainbow. Students then headed over to the Art in the Loft classroom to complete an art project led by instructor Mariah Brancheau.

“This is our updated version of our flagship program, Ready, Set, Create!” said Justin Christensen-Cooper, Art in the Loft executive director. “Ready, Set, Create! ended its 13th year in existence last school year, and it was going well. It’s partially funded by the Alpena County Youth and Rec millage, which is a great part of our community, to do these youth programs. And then we match that grant with our memberships and sponsorships that we do through the gallery, and that’s allowed us to really grow that program.”

Ready, Set, Create! is a four-week consecutive art instructions program that supplements the fourth-grade curriculum.

“It’s completely free to the teachers, to the schools, to the students,” Christensen-Cooper said. “In fact, we even provide the transportation, supplies, and all of that, as well.”

He said the program is an excellent way to introduce culinary and creative skills to students.

“We have been working with Jess Krawczak, who, sort of, became our in-house chef for a lot of our kids classes, and even our adult classes, too,” Christensen-Cooper said. “While she was doing that, she was actually building and growing and creating a program of her own, called Food is Fuel. So, she approached us and said, ‘Is there an opportunity at Art in the Loft to make this program come to life?’ Essentially, what it’s doing is teaching wellness and nutrition, fun in the kitchen, familiarity in the kitchen, being comfortable in it.”

He said she and Brancheau have been doing a great job teaching the children.

“We were super energized about it,” Christensen-Cooper said. “We thought, what if we paired it and partnered it with the Ready, Set, Create! program, and created one bigger program.”

He said Art in the Loft board members had many meetings about the program and developed it, and met with Superintendent of Alpena Public Schools, Dave Rabbideau, to go over logistics and details of the program.

“We sat down with the superintendent and asked, ‘Is this even possible?’ before we even tried anything,” Christensen-Cooper said. “And he was on board. He talked with the teachers and met with curriculum directors.”

He said the Ready, Set, Create! program is for fourth-graders, but other Alpena entities provide programs for students in other grades.

For example, the Alpena Plaza Pool offers the Ready, Set, Swim! program for second-graders, and Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary offers educational programs for third-graders at the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center in Alpena. Fifth-graders participate in the STARBASE program, learning about science, technology, engineering, and math through an exciting, hands-on curriculum.

“Every level has a program, and it’s just so cool that we get to be a part of that,” Christensen-Cooper said.

He said Art in the Loft received funding through the Community Foundation for Northeast Michigan to run a pilot of the Ready, Set, Create! program for students at All Saints Catholic School and the homeschooling partnership.

“We did it in a non-public school setting because of flexibility, and not having to override curriculum that they already had planned,” Christensen-Cooper said. “With that, and those funds, we ran a really successful four-week program of just Food is Fuel … We realized, out of testing that, that we were able to run this program for four consecutive weeks, with an hour for each class. So, they do an hour in the kitchen and an hour in the classroom, all at one time.”

The students prepare and eat their own nutritious lunch at each session.

“It’s alive up here,” Christensen-Cooper said. “We’re doing not only visual arts … but now we’re partnering with that nutrition and well-being part, too. They get confident in doing it, and they find success in a different way.”

According to Art in the Loft’s website, “The mission of Ready, Set Create! is to address the community need for low-cost and free arts programming for both in-school and out-of-school youth of all ages. Art in the Loft community arts center serves as a welcoming place for students to engage regularly in the arts to enhance learning and build life skills in creativity, imagination, critical thinking, and collaboration.”

For more information about the Ready, Set, Create! program, visit artintheloft.org.