DEY’s Kentucky Area Working Group launched a visual arts campaign called “Ready for Me.” The campaign engaged group members in various spaces through the months of March (soft beginning), April (Official launch Week of the Young Child), May, June and ending in July. Phase II will begin exhibits in various public spaces of the art work.
Our prompt for adults with young children, and for the children themselves has been: What do schools need to know to be ready for ME? ( A shift from the Ready for Kindergarten message). We anticipated that the exhibits would coincide in the community as schools are opening. We are hopeful that we can bring this message, via exhibits, to the JCPS school district as it pursues the 2025-26 school year.
Our project has resulted in multiple on site interactions with families, children and teachers. It began with a child care providers conference with nearly 300 providers attending. The Ready for Me arts workshop took place in a break out room at the conference
where providers and coaches of Early Childhood spaces drew, discussed and wrote what was needed for them to be ready for the children they serve. These items were listed unanimously: Funds for meeting their own needs; Supplies for children such as artistic expression and books; Trainings in more ways to help children in need of more than they currently know how to provide. As we heard more about those needs, we took existing workshops and created a Ready for Me Workshop series. Most recently we have been in conversation with the Early Learning Campus at U of L about how to create a workshop that helps teachers discuss Kindergarten readiness through this new lens.
Additionally, we have art from Head Start sites, community events in Louisville and three juvenile justice sites. That art will be exhibited again at the Muhammad Ali Center the week of 23-30 September. This will be the second exhibit of the art. A third group of art works is being exhibited at the University of Louisville Early Childhood Research Center currently. The next step in our campaign in addition to more planned events this fall, is to develop relationships with four individuals identified with Early Childhood in the community in governance and share the art and results with them.
The principal goals of DEY are woven directly into the fabric of this project as they are listed on each flyer we share about the project. The campaign and art asks participants to envision their own needs with regard to the principles.
Our impact so far is that other DEY Area Working Groups plan to take up their own Ready for Me Arts campaigns and more and more folks are inviting us in to there spaces.
Our only hurdle is the Kindergarten Readiness conversation that continues but we have not been in direct contact with this yet so we will continue to attempt to influence.
