Portside Arts Center will host the 1st annual Voice Of The Arts Awards – Dance Benefit on Fri., November 14 from 8PM-12AM. Held at the Skybox (2424 E. York St.), the event will Honor State Representative John Taylor and Strategic Planner John Crowther. The benefit will feature live performances by the Don Jones Band and DJ Holly Sue, who is best known for her Bouffant Bangout party at The Barbary, as well as beer donated by Philadelphia Home Brew, fresh Sangria and light Hors d’oeuvres.

The event is a fundraiser for the Portside’s new After School Arts Program. The program is partnered with five local schools and provides busses to the Arts Center after classes let out for the day. Once at Portside, students receive homework help, snack time, visual arts education, theater arts education, a weekly character education workshop, as well as exhibitions in Portside’s gallery for students to show off their work to friends and family members.

“It’s a really good place to for the kids to come,” Kim Creighton, the Center’s director, said. “It builds up their confidence, their self-esteem.”

Creighton bought the 6000 square-foot building that would become the art center in 2007. After half a year of renovation, the Center opened its doors in January of 2008.

“They started out in a virtually abandoned, beat up building.” State Representative John Taylor said. “It was great for the community to have someone in there utilizing that space. But I couldn’t have begun to imagine the impact that that place was eventually going to have.”

Aside from the new after-school program that provides transportation for children K-5, Portside offers a variety of classes and workshops for children and adults of all ages. This includes courses on anything from stop-motion animation to stained glass for high school students. There is also yoga, figure drawing and upholstery for adults. Portside also offers full-day field trips for students on day’s like Columbus Day, when school is not in session.

“We’re giving children different ways to learn in what is otherwise a one size fits all education system,” Jenna Wilchinsky, the Center’s Assistant Director, said. “What the schools aren’t giving kids when they’re not exposed to art from a young age is the tactile learning experience. Arts education is a therapy and a learning tool for kids who can’t learn in other ways.”

Everyone involved at the center is committed to the idea of not only the value of art, but also providing an alternative method for children to become part of a community.

“Children come to Portside for more than art,” Taylor said. “Art is a way they feel included, they feel accepted, they have a sense of accomplishment where in other worlds they do not.”

If on Friday, November 14 you’re looking to feel some acceptance, come to Voice Of The Arts Awards – Dance Benefit. Tickets cost twenty dollars and may be purchased at www.PortsideArtsCenter.org. Bring your dancing shoes.