ENGN’s Youth Art Program Fosters Connection and Community Understanding in Monticello

It’s a Wednesday afternoon after the school day has ended at Monticello High School. Inside a schoolroom known as The Tank, students Savannah and Valerie work on a portrait together that didn’t necessarily go as planned.

“We were supposed to do a landscape, but we kinda messed up on it, so we’re just doodling right now,” said Savannah. She says the unpredictability of how projects may turn out is part of the fun.

The Tank is a creative space for Monticello Central School District youth, where knitted hats, string lights, and large-scale murals adorn the hallways.

Thomas Bosket, co-founder of The Tank’s ENGN art education program, says that art is a powerful tool for students to learn how to communicate how they see themselves, the world, and each other.

“Our practice involves combining community with creativity,” said Bosket, who co-founded the educational nonprofit ENGN with artist Isaac Green Diebboll in 2011.

Bosket said giving students the agency to decide what projects to tackle is ENGN’s magic. “A hallmark of ENGN over the years has been listening and coming to these understandings of what’s needed by listening and developing the program within.”

Ciara, a senior at Monticello High School, shares one of her favorite projects: a large log of wood with carefully hammered hardware nails.

“I came down here one day. I was very, very angry about something. I forget what it even was that I was angry about, but I was trying to fix my anger,” said Ciara. “In the process, I was destroying something else, and I feel like a lot of people tend to do that.”

How federal changes may impact grant-funded programs like ENGN’s is still unclear. For instance, Monticello High School receives Title 1 funding, whose funding recently shifted from the U.S. Department of Education to the U.S. Department of Labor – a move that some experts say could cause grant delays or even cuts

Still, the work continues. Amy Nardi, founder of Choosing Happy 365 at The Tank, said supporting students with creative outlets has never felt more important.

“What I see overall with a lot of students is that it is foreign for them to have a different kind of life or to have different experiences,” said Nardi, a positive psychology practitioner. “I try to teach them that you can have whatever you would like to have.”

For Monticello High school student Ciara, she says ENGN’s program is a place where her words matter.

“I love being down here because my words actually hold weight down here,” said Ciara. “I’m a teenager. My opinion is not very valued in most places, and my words do not hold much weight when I speak. Down here, my opinion is kind of important… we can work with that.”

Image: Hand-painted mural at the entrance of The Tank (Photo Credit: Kimberly Izar)