The Jefferson Arts Education Project will be a 2024 Mission Pilot Program run and administered from St. Stephen and St Martin’s - a 155 year-old parish in the heart of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
The flagship ministry will provide excellent visual arts education to children who attend PS5, the local elementary school, throughout the school year. Ebony Haynes, one of the leading Black art educators and art gallery directors in the nation - will direct the program. Dr Lena Gates, the much loved and celebrated principal PS5, will oversee the program.
PS5 is a historically undernourished and underserved school, with 90% of its children from families who live below the poverty line, and 30% from families experiencing homelessness.
St. Stephen's and St. Martin's parish will host an art show in June for the neighborhood, the school families, and for our parish families. Displayed art will consist largely of the work of of PS5 children, alongside work from parish children.