During spring break, our Arts & Innovation (AI) program hosted its annual AI Effects Workshop. The Arts & Innovation strategy focuses on five areas of the arts, including performing arts, visual arts, culinary arts, digital arts, and music studio & production.
Last year’s AI Effect Workshop was a two-day camp teaching Club teens the basics of songwriting and song production, featuring a virtual Q&A with Grammy award-winning producers Pierre the Maven (Mary J. Blige and Usher) and DJ SCREAM (Rick Ross and Gucci Mane).
This year, our AI Effects Workshop was… Cook Up Camp! Centering around food safety, independence, and innovation through food, Club kids came together at Harland Boys & Girls Club to cook with Atlanta-based Chef Chelle.
Arts & Innovation Program Director Ruben Royster chose culinary arts for this year’s AI Effects Workshop to not only expose Club members to culinary arts but to ignite their creativity in the form of food.
Even before the cooking began, Chef Chelle explained the importance of safety and cleanliness in the kitchen. Throughout their time cooking, Club kids were constantly throwing trash, cleaning counters, and each Club member was assigned to at least one station after they cleaned the kitchen and their respective cooking spaces. There was a chopping station, waffle station, fruit cutting station, mac and cheese station, and fried chicken station, to name a few.
Kapri from Harland Boys & Girls Club was at the fruit station “I learned new safety skills, like how to properly hold a knife so you don’t hurt anyone.”
Mavis from Warren Boys & Girls Club oversaw making the scrambled eggs. When asked about her favorite part of the Cook Up Camp, it was a tie between “cooking the scrambled eggs and eating everything we made!”
“I was responsible for making sure the chicken was nice and seasoned,” said Karson, who was at two stations, “I learned that when cooking mac and cheese, you really have to mix it.” His favorite part of the day was eating the mac and cheese he helped cook.
The menu consisted of macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, tacos, scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, waffles, and sausage, all of which the Club kids and teens proudly made themselves.
After eating their creations, they cleaned then sat down for a talk about careers in the food industry and left with cookbooks.
“The highlight of my day was working with the youth, watching them cook and come alive,” said Chef Chelle, “They were doing things they didn’t they could do. They were cooking like adults.”
Special thanks to the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs for providing funding for the AI Effect Workshop!