PREVIEW: Kids Art Festival Brings Family Fun to Schenectady
6/7 @ Jay Street, Schenectady
“I like to encourage children to ask questions, and encourage them to remember that being creative is important.”
Every parent knows the constant struggle of finding ways to entertain our kids without the use of screens, let alone getting them to enjoy some time out in the great outdoors. And I’m aware that—despite being an Elder Millennial—that was a very Boomer-infused sentence, but the sentiment remains.
It’s one of the many reasons why Schenectady’s Kids Art Festival seems to come at the perfect time every year. For 30 years, this festival has delighted adults and children alike by sparking creativity and encouraging imagination in the closed-off arc of Jay Street behind City Hall. This year is shaping up to be the biggest yet, with a plethora of performances, demonstrations and over 50 hands-on arts activities. Youngins—or ‘fellow kids’, if I may sound like that Steve Buscemi meme for a moment—can flex their skills and create lit projects through pottery, weaving, mural designing, tie dyeing, painting and more… no cap.
As a bonus for parents, the festival is not just a fun outing, but highly educational, with multiple demonstrators showcasing a particular medium or skill. Local artist Aysha Charise is one of those demonstrators, hosting a Learn to Draw tent for attendees.
“I'll be doing a live pastel drawing of one or two different illustrations of horses,” she tells me, “and then I'll have a table with illustrations that I've also created for the children, so they can sit with me and ask me questions about how to draw and how to color.”
This will be Aysha’s first time exhibiting at the festival, having spent the last 12 years living in New York City, where she worked a number of jobs ranging from hospitality to fashion design to a summer at MoMA. That journey led her to return home to Schenectady last year, where she now teaches various art classes that span all age groups.
“Hearing their questions is my favorite part,” Aysha says of her experience working with kids. “It's kind of common knowledge that children like attention. They like their questions answered. So I like to encourage children to ask them, and encourage them to remember that being creative is important.”
In true festival fashion, there are plenty of options beyond art for kids to envelop themselves in. Music will be present throughout the festival, with live performances from the Pan African Youth Orchestra and the Oneida Middle School Guitar Club. Not only that, but the Be The Best You Can Band—featuring a trio of members from popular local bands—will be hosting a Learn to Rock tent where kids will get to try out a myriad of instruments firsthand.
“Giving kids the chance to plug into a real amp, try out some effects pedals, or sit behind a drum kit—often for the first time—is incredible,” Mikey Baish, frontman of The Sugar Hold who has been involved with the festival in different capacities since 2017, tells me. “You can see it in their faces when they realize, ‘Wait, I get to play this?’”
The group’s goal is to have kids leave the festival with an interest in picking up an instrument themselves and diving into the wonderful world of music making. With a group as passionate and effervescent as this, there’s no doubt they’ll make the intended impact.
“The kids are always game to have a good time and explore,” member Raya Malcolm, also of Hold on Honeys, says. “I’m super excited to get curious and creative with them.”
“One moment I’ll never forget was a young left-handed Black boy who couldn’t get enough of the electric guitar,” Mikey adds. “As we were talking, I told him about Jimi Hendrix—one of the greatest to ever do it—who was also Black and left-handed. The look on his face when he made that connection was unforgettable. That’s the power of this kind of exposure.”
Schenectady’s Kids Art Festival is happening Saturday, June 7th from 12:00-4:00, outside City Hall on Jay Street. In the event of rain, the festival will move inside to Proctors Fenimore Gallery, GE Theatre, Key Hall and Robb Alley & Wright Atrium. All photos by Vincent Giordano.
