SHREVEPORT, La. (KSLA) - ArkLaTex Artistry explores the Noel Community Arts Program, which provides art classes to adults and children who want to learn but never had access in school.
The Noel Community Arts Program (NCAP), 520 Herndon Street, is one of Shreveport’s best-kept secrets. It is a nonprofit that was formed in 2009, originally it was an outreach ministry for Noel United Methodist Church in the Highland neighborhood in Shreveport, Louisiana.
NCAP’s Executive Director Tracy McComic speaks with ArkLaTex Artistry’s Brittney Hazelton about how the organization started and what it offers to the Shreveport-Bossier community.
McComic says that the Noel United Methodist Church was struggling to keep its doors open to the public, so it decided to focus on outreach ministries. The church started outreach programs, including a food pantry and the Noel Community Arts Program. In the beginning, the NCAP only had music lessons and then pottery, eventually they added art lessons. Then in 2022, NCAP received its own separate 501C3 nonprofit status, becoming an organization separate from the church.
“But, we are still benefitting from the extreme generosity of Noel Methodist Church,” says McComic, expressing the organization’s thankfulness.
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NCAP believes the arts can alter people’s lives.
“We believe people can transform themselves through the arts, through music, through visual arts, the art of creation, it opens up pathways to higher learning. It gives us a voice, sometimes when there are no words,” says McComic. “The arts helps us express ourselves and it creates a sense of community and pride. It’s just so necessary and not everyone has access to the arts, it’s being phased out of the school system.”
The organization provides art classes to the overall public, young, adults, or elderly, and people of all walks of life.
“We strive to make it accessible to everybody, regardless of their background, financial resources. We don’t turn anyone away,” explains McComic. “So if someone has the desire to learn a musical instrument, or learn some art skills, or learn about pottery, or any of the classes we offer, we will not turn them away.”
Even if you can’t afford the art classes NCAP offers, the organization offers scholarships so you can still attend them. When you register online, there is an option for low-income applicants to fill out a short application for assistance.
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Artists can also bring up classes they want to teach. NCAP will provide the place and pay them a fair wage to teach their classes.
Additionally, NCAP also partners with other nonprofits to offer weekly outreach, art instruction, and music. Some organizations they assist are the Volunteers of America’s Light House Program, The Highland Center, and The Bridge Alzheimer’s and Dementia Research Center. Another program they assist, is The Hub Homeless Ministries, an organization that helps women out of sex trafficking.
“We recently added a group for people who are living with seizure disorders. They are called the Epilepsy Warriors,” says McComic. “They really feel isolated, and feel like they have nowhere to go to visit with people like them, who have to live the way that they do.”
Just this year, NCAP established the Little Free Art Gallery, a concept McComic happened upon and fell in love with.
“It just made me smile so big to see the miniature little dioramic scenes of miniature people figures looking at miniature art on the wall,” says McComic, “I remember taking it to some of my coworkers here in the building and telling them, I want this so badly.”
McComic would include it in some of the grants she wrote and eventually, it got funded by the Shreveport Regional Arts Council and the City of Shreveport.
The Little Free Art Gallery is located at the community garden at 520 Herndon Street, Shreveport, and the community is welcome to contribute or use the resources it provides, such as free art supplies.
“Anyone can submit art that can be displayed,” explains McComic.
Read more about the Free Little Art Gallery >> https://www.ksla.com/2024/03/02/unveiling-free-little-art-gallery-community-mural-paint-day-announced-by-noel-community-arts-program/.
About Tracy McComic:
McComic is an artist and her business goes by Wired & Sassy, LLC. Despite her talents today, she didn’t start doing art until 10 years ago.
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“I dabbled in it as a kid growing up and enjoyed it, but then as a lot of adults do, I grew up,” McComic says, signaling quotations with her fingers. “It was through a lot of trials of my own and encouragement, like hey, you need to get a hobby.”
Finally, McComic made the step into jewelry making.
“I went to a local store and they had a little how to something. I picked up supplies and I assembled them, and that’s how it started. I was like, I like this,” says McComic. " And little by little I started trying more things and eventually I branched out into whats called metal clay, which is great because I always wanted to work with metal. Then painting came.”
McComic found that art was a way to express herself and work through things. Art became a way for her to heal.
To see some of McComic’s work visit her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/wiredandsassy.
Summer Camps will be held by NCAP this year, offering seven weeks of programming, starting on June 3, from 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
For more information about NCAP’s events, classes, or camps, visit https://noelarts.org/.
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