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Three Russell Sage students recently brought their creative talents to the kids, teens, and young adults at Bring on the Spectrum (BOTS), a Capital Region sensory gym and community space for neurodiverse individuals and their families.
Morgan Dempsey and Raylynne Kuhn, both seniors in RSC’s Expressive Arts in Mental Health program, held art, music, and dance classes for neurodiverse tweens, teens, and young adults. Meanwhile, Robert Cusato, a junior majoring in Art and Extended Media, taught classes in portrait drawing and led a collaborative arts project where participants created a mural in the BOTS sensory gym space. The projects were supported by Arts Thrive and Grow grants from the Arts Center of the Capital Region.
“I’ve gained the idea that everybody is so unique, and how they express themselves is also so very unique. I love seeing that,” said Kuhn, who also works at a dance studio and has worked with young neurodivergent dancers before. “I’ve just learned to be more passionate about what I do, and to see all these people dancing, and I’m sharing my passion with them, is so heartwarming. I’ve just loved this whole experience.”
Kuhn has also been interning at CAPTAIN Community Human Services, a Capital Region nonprofit addressing a spectrum of needs from hunger to homelessness, and Safe, Inc. of Schenectady, a youth shelter, and plans to get a job as a case manager before returning to graduate school in a few years to pursue a master’s degree in social work.
Dempsey has been working with BOTS for about a year – a relationship that began as an intern, where she brought art activities to younger members of the BOTS community and adults. Dempsey and recent Russell Sage graduate Matt Peer also produced a Disney cabaret with the many talented individuals at the facility.
She said working with so many different types of populations is a key component of the Expressive Arts in Mental Health curriculum and allows her to understand where her passions might lie when she launches her career in the field. It also gives her critical real-world experience.
“I think this is my third experience with a different population,” said Dempsey, who plans to enter a master’s degree program in either art or music therapy after graduation. “It’s been rewarding to learn how to design a program in actual community settings. That kind of long-term exposure has been huge.”
Cusato’s work with BOTS started after he took a young adult cooking class there just over a year ago and inquired about teaching some art classes. Since his first year at RSC, he’s taught classes in standard drawing, comic creation, and character creation. This summer, he taught six art classes to middle and high school students at BOTS, and the resulting mural and artwork were unveiled at a showcase on July 31.
“This was a very collaborative project. It was a lot more about student involvement and student freedom than anything else,” said Cusato, whose career goal is to be a concept designer. “On the first day, we specifically didn’t follow a plan. We took turns each adding a piece to the mural and each kid added whatever they wanted. When you get to see what you’ve done, it’s very rewarding, and it’s very nice to be able to contribute to a community in this way.”
“I gained probably a lot of confidence in my own ability to lead a project and valuable experience in team activities,” he said. “I’ve always been somewhat more of an independent person, so working as a leader in a leadership role definitely was insightful.”