Grounds For Sculpture (GFS) today announced it has been awarded a grant from the John Ben Snow Memorial Trust (Trust) to support 2024 – 2025 academic year after-school programming with three community partners. This will help fund GFS’ after-school programs for students in the nearby Trenton andHamilton area through established partnerships with the Hamilton YMCA, HomeWorks Trenton, and The Father Center of New Jersey. Held at GFS and other offsite locations, these collaboratively developed programs explore a variety of art-based concepts through a STEAM-based curriculum and aim to build participants’ socio-emotional well- being and leadership skills.

“We are excited to continue our relationships with these key community partners and increase these students’ exposure to art, horticulture and wellness through our after- school programs,” remarked Julio Badel, Director of Education and Community Engagement at Grounds For Sculpture. “This funding from the Jon Ben Snow Memorial Trust will help us enhance young people’s lives, providing them with essential skills that we hope will benefit them for years to come.”

GFS began partnering with the Hamilton YMCA in 2022 through its Before & After School Enrichment Program (BASE), which provides nearly 1,000 Hamilton Township children with a safe, fun, and supervised environment before and after school. With this generous support from the Trust, GFS will help the Hamilton YMCA offer monthly arts enrichment programming that will enhance BASE’s offerings. YMCA programs like BASE intend to prevent adverse outcomes and/or improve functioning with at-risk youth in several areas, including academic achievement, crime and behavioral challenges, socio-emotional functioning, and school engagement.

“We’re grateful for our partnership with Grounds For Sculpture, which has allowed us to add arts enrichment to our after-school programming,” shared Diana Zita, CEO of the Hamilton YMCA. “This has inspired children who don’t normally participate in art activities to be incredibly attentive and engaged. In total, ourpartnership will help serve over 540 children across 13 schools. Partners like GFS assist us in our mission to focus on youth development academically, emotionally, and physically. We look forward to seeing the amazing art the children will create during the coming school year.”

GFS began a relationship with HomeWorks Trenton (HomeWorks), a 501(c)(3) non-profit that operates a free, after-school residential program for marginalized high school girls, in 2020 with online workshops exploring various foundations in art. This relationship expanded in 2021-2022, with HomeWorks’ scholars visiting GFS monthly for open studios where they painted and created sculptures and went on garden walks that allowed them explore art and nature. With the grant’s support, GFS’ 2024-2025 academic year collaboration with HomeWorks will provide students monthly visits to GFS to explore the grounds and participate in workshops focused on art, wellness and team building. HomeWorks provides its participants academic and identity-driven leadership enrichment to supplement their public-school education and developcommunity leaders. With its supportive and educational residential environment, HomeWorks inspires and equips young women from marginalized communities to achieve their potential and positively transform theworld around them.

“HomeWorks Trenton is proud and grateful to be partnering with Grounds For Sculpture,” commented Natalie Tung, Executive Director of HomeWorks. “Through this partnership, ourscholars have the opportunity to experience GFS’ art collection, practice and explore different crafts, and present their social justice capstone projects to the community on their beautiful grounds. Thank you to the entire team at Grounds For Sculpture for making this possible for our scholars and HomeWorks community.”

GFS revived a dormant partnership with The Father Center of New Jersey (The Father Center) in 2020 with virtual programming, scaling to a school year long program from 2021 onwards, incorporating team building, communication skills, and art. The Trust’s grant support will help GFS present educational programming as a part of The Father Center’s Healthy Relationships Healthy Choices (HRHC) program, a curriculum designed for a group of approximately 15 ninth grade boys. The program gives students the chance to learn life skills—such as budget management and stress relief—early on and helps prepare them for healthy relationships throughout their lives. With 28 weekly, two-hour sessions throughout the school year, the program focuses on leadership & life skills development, healthy & productive relationships, community service, career development, and educational experiences.

“At The Father Center of New Jersey, we believe in exposing our Healthy Relationships Healthy Choices boys in various ways,” remarked Andre Thomas, Youth Specialist and Program Manager at The FatherCenter of New Jersey. “Grounds for Sculpture checks off a lot of boxes for us. They engage the HRHC boys in meaningful conversations, expose them to the arts and they learn GFS’ rich history, all of which really fascinates the boys. The GFS staff do an amazing job facilitating all the educational activities, which are engaging and meaningful; the mindfulness exercises are one of my favorites. Seeing the boys have fun while they learn is all I could ask for.”

About The John Ben Snow Memorial Trust

In 1975, two years after his death, The John Ben Snow Memorial Trust was established in New York. The current Trustees continue his legacy being well aware of the donor and his beliefs, values and ideals. The John Ben Snow Memorial Trust strategically focuses funding within specific Grant Programs while responding to the ever-changing needs of targeted populations, especially seeking to close the opportunity gap for under-resourced individuals.

About Grounds For Sculpture

Grounds For Sculpture (GFS) is a 42-acre not-for-profit sculpture park, arboretum, and museum, founded by the late Seward Johnson. Featuring over 300 contemporary sculptures by renowned and emerging artists ina beckoning, ever-changing landscape, Grounds For Sculpture combines art and nature to surprise, inspire,and engage visitors from all backgrounds in the artist’s act of invention. In addition to its permanentcollection, Grounds For Sculpture offers exhibitions in six indoor galleries, alongside experiential art, horticulture, and wellness programs for all ages. Located in Hamilton, New Jersey, Grounds For Sculpture is easily accessible from the New York City and Philadelphia metropolitan areas by public transit and is open year-round. For more information, visit groundsforsculpture.org.

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