Somewhere out there in the whole wide world you may wish there were an organization doing after-school, in-school, and community-based programs that teach the arts, build community and help kids develop socially and emotionally.
You’re in luck.
There are organizations doing important work like that in schools. Here in Austin, one that’s doing great work is Creative Action.
Capital Metro has partnered with AISD’s Lee Lewis Campbell Elementary Media & Performing Arts Institute and Creative Action to ask students to create environmentally focused art to adorn Austin’s first pair of zero-emissions electric buses. We spoke with Christa Berry, Creative Action’s Chief Marketing & Development Officer, to learn what Creative Action does and how the Electric Bus Artwork Contest came to be.
What is the role of Creative Action in the Austin Community?
Every Creative Action program uses arts learning to help young people become creative artists, critical thinkers, courageous allies and confident leaders so they may contribute to and live in a more equitable world.
Creative Action is the largest arts education organization in Central Texas, leading the way for the innovative application of the arts to support positive youth development.
We deliver more than 800 weekly programming hours in six urban, suburban and rural area school districts, reaching more than 20,000 youth annually and the adults who care for them.
Since our founding in 1997, we have reached 200,000+ youth and adults; delivered 250,000+ hours of arts enrichment programming; employed 600+ teens to produce original art; held 1,000+ performances; and employed 800+ local artists.
How did this partnership between you and CapMetro come about?
CapMetro is a long-time supporter of Creative Action and has been particularly supportive of Color Squad, our visual arts teen program.
Each year we choose a different social justice issue or theme and launch a youth-driven, arts-based collective impact project as part of our mission to help young people become courageous allies who stand up for equity and use their creative voice to make a difference in the community.
This year, our efforts will focus on climate change and environmental justice, inspiring students and community members to DREAM GREEN by practicing sustainability at school and at home and advocating for environmental justice.
CapMetro’s zero-emissions electric buses came about in parallel with our DREAM GREEN impact project, so we saw it as the perfect alignment to expand our existing partnership.
Can you tell us about the opportunity you saw to merge student art with the launch of Capital Metro’s first pair of zero-emissions electric buses?
We saw the opportunity to help launch CapMetro’s zero-emissions electric buses as a way to merge arts-based learning with your vision for a sustainable future.
Students at our Spark School, Lee Lewis Campbell Elementary Media & Performing Arts Institute, will use their artistic skills to design bus wraps for the new buses while learning about environmental sustainability.
This collaboration illustrates what can come from an innovative application of creative expression.
Students involved will further develop their 21st century skills and social and emotional competencies, critical skills for developing personally and making positive contributions to their communities.
What matters most when working with children to create art?
What matters most is the sense of freedom and possibility that’s sparked through art-making.
Watching each child create, you see them expressing something unique about themselves, their personality, their thinking, their culture and their place in the world.
While they are working, experimenting, revising and crafting, children are free to make hundreds of choices about innumerable details, using their senses, feelings and ideas to create a work that is entirely new, vibrant and vital.
The nature of art-making and collaboration reminds us that we are all learners regardless of age, and that the most exciting discoveries are when we learn more about ourselves and our community.
If you had one wish for the Austin Community – what would it be?
For us, the arts provide young people with a dynamic pathway for developing the academic, social and emotional skills for success.
As participants express themselves and build critical 21st century skills through hands-on creative projects, they also connect with their peers, their local communities and the global community beyond Austin.
Our one wish would be that all youth in the Austin community have equal access to arts education.
The new Capital Metro bus electric fleet launches this month.
Learn more about Creative Action!
Capital Metro is working with Austin Energy to introduce new all-electric buses to the city early next year. 
CapMetro is joining together with Whole Foods Market and the Central Texas Food Bank once again for Stuff the Bus!
A cheap costume that somehow never gets old. While there are lots of ghosts to choose from throughout the history of pop culture (Casper, Slimer, Samara, etc.), there’s something so simple and classic about just cutting some eye holes in a white sheet, throwing it over your head and calling it a day. And hey, if it’s good enough for Charlie Brown and Michael Myers, then it’s good enough for us all.
After the release of the third season of Stranger Things, you can bet we’ll see a bunch of its most iconic costumes out in the streets. And while you might think the Scoops uniform would be pretty easy to recreate, good luck replicating Steve “The Hair” Harrington’s luscious locks. No amount of volumizing shampoo or lifting spray can clone those genetics. We know. Life just ain’t fair.
Assuming you don’t have the vocal and/or songwriting chops, there’s no better way to pay homage to Daniel Johnston than a shout out to his Hi, How Are You frog. A pioneer of lo-fi sound and a staple of the Austin music scene, there’s bound to be a few out there “Walking the Cow” in honor of this legend.
You don’t need to be a detective to know that Pikachu will be the cutest costume this season. Double points to the dude who turns his Pokémon costume into a pun by carrying around a bowl of yellowfin tuna, thus evolving into the ultra-rare “Poké Man.”
Just like the genre itself, zombie costumes will never stay dead. Come Halloween night, we’ll be sure to see a bunch of Tallahassees, Wichitas and other “insert iconic city names” roaming the streets. But after a night of imbibing, don’t join the heard of the walking drunk. Just “Double Tap” the CapMetro App and hop a safe ride home.
