CHATTANOONGA, TN (WDEF) – These days, being an artist takes more than paints and pencils. In their latest Tech Goes Home program, ArtsBuild Chattanooga gave aspiring artists the digital tools they’ll need to succeed in the modern economy. Take a look at what they learned in this week’s “What’s Right With Our Schools.”
“Tech Goes Home is 15 hours digital skills training for anybody in our community. So for this specific class, we’re partnering with Arts Build to bring Tech Goes Home class to youth,” Melissa Callejas, Director, Tech Goes Home, says.
“So we’re actually like working on presentations and there’s, I do photography too. So they’re helping me learn how to like edit my photos using like Adobe. And to download my photos onto my computers because I’m not like gotten to that yet,” Emily Reed, Senior, Dade County High School, said.
“The goal is for them to be able to use their art to express themselves and also be creative within promoting themselves and advertising themselves; learning how to become entrepreneurs with their art, learning how to use technology to the advantage to be able to put themselves out there. And to be able to sometimes make their art better,” “D-Whit” Whitaker, Trainer, Tech Goes Home, said.
“Everybody takes her class and graduates with her 15 hours gets to receive a free chrome book,” Callejas says.
“We have people that paint. We have people that do music. Some of them are you know dancers. So a wide range of art,” Whitaker said.
“I say it builds personal self myself. I could uh… better present myself to other people. I think that’s why we use it right now. I say I’m good at learning, you know, learning to get with people,” JaiMari Johnson, 10th Grader, CSAS, said.
Whitaker says, “I’m always super excited about seeing a lot of the kids art and seeing some of the skills grow. So they get to learn a lot. That’s very useful for their art and help them communicate better and then. They also you know learning some public speaking within the course. Because they have to get a present… do a nice presentation of, hey this is my cooking that I’ve done; my culinary art.”
“We kind of helped them get the opportunity to learn how to promote themselves through websites. Where actually using Google sites to build websites for them to promote themselves to the public,” Whitaker continued.
Reed says, “So I’m actually planning on becoming a music educator. And so doing like arts class and learning technology and like real world skills will help me as a person and as a future.”
“Super important to start with them at this age. Because it helps them to see the future, and helps them have the potential of what they have to offer. What they’re able to do with their art, how they’re able to put their art out. And how they can gain business within their art,” Whitaker said.
