Spotlight: Youth Arts at the Center in Benton Harbor & Marquette
- John Sloan III
- Sep 23
- 5 min read
Michigan Arts Orgs to Support | Sept 23, 2025
Two community-driven arts organizations — ARS Arts & Culture Center in Benton Harbor and Superior Arts Youth Theater (SAY Theatre) in Marquette — are giving Michigan’s young people the chance to learn, create, and shine. Both anchor their work in accessibility, equity, and inclusion, ensuring that art is a resource for every child and family, not just a privileged few.
ARS Gallery, Arts & Culture Center | Benton Harbor | www.arsartsandculture.org| @AnnaRussoSieberGallery (FB)
Mission
“Our mission is to Encourage Enlighten & Engage in the Arts! A vital part of this mission is to offer arts and cultural education to a diverse group of youth, bringing them together under one arts program."
Purpose
Our purpose is to provide a local community Art Center, which promotes, develops, and implements cultural, visual fine arts, and arts education to our community with a focus on at-risk youth.
What they do
ARS offers a broad range of programs:
After-school classes & summer camps in visual arts, film, printmaking, and sculpture
Conflict resolution & non-violence programs blending art with community themes and shared meals
Teen and adult workshops in mixed media, painting, drawing, and design
Gallery exhibitions featuring regional and national artists, plus community showcases
Programs (in their own words)
ARS Arts & Culture Center (ARS) is a community art center, offering cultural arts, applied arts, fine arts, and outreach programs. Our programming embraces our whole community and is recognized by our ARS Arts & Public Arts Program.
ARS fosters personal growth for youth through positive interaction and social development. We use fine, applied, and cultural arts, along with the powerful vehicle of public art to educate our youth. ARS has a distinctive focus to bring youth with diverse social, racial, and economic backgrounds together through these principles.
ARS saves lives, giving hope to the youths that feel hopeless, giving youths the opportunity for empowerment when they feel powerless. ARS believes that you can say more through art than you can through words alone.
Community Youth Program
The goal of the non-violence camp is to give visual symbols and language for the five steps of conflict resolution. And to empower kids by giving them tangible ways to calm down through making art.
Steps that are modeled and utilized during camp:
Calm Down- Develop visual symbols (example: a sunset or a person sitting) that means “calm”. Create a monoprint of the decided-upon symbol.
State the Problem- Develop a symbol (example: a person with a conversation bubble) and create a monoprint of the symbol.
Apologize Well- Develop a symbol (example: text symbol such as the word “sorry” in bubble letters) and create a monoprint of the symbol.
Find a Solution- Develop a symbol (example: hand holding a small present) and create a monoprint of the symbol.
Follow Up- Develop a symbol (example: road with a person walking) and create a monoprint of the symbol.
A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
Friday, November 21, 2025, 5:30-8:30pm
ARS is keeping our fundraiser simple this year. Simply Opera, no auction, with salty & sweet dolce and refreshments. 2 performers, 1 special evening of Italian Opera
Social begins at 5:30, 6-8:30 opera with an intermission.
La finé decadent surprise!
Cocktail to formal attire with themed butterfly accessories to channel our mural.
Ways to Support:
There are many ways to support ARS. Community members are invited to join the ARS Circle.
SAY Theate | Marquette, MI | www.saytrheater.org | @saytheater
Mission
"Through acting, music, dance, and other arts disciplines, SAY Theatre seeks to provide young people ages 3-18 with high-quality educational, performance, and technical theater opportunities.”
Each year SAY Theater produces 3 to 4 musicals, a play series that includes the annual Youth Playwriting Project, and more. All productions are open to local youth performers, designers, and technicians. SAY Theater’s annual programming includes theatre camps, workshops, and productions. We use the Visual, Arts, Music, Dance, and Theater benchmarks established by the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards to structure our arts programs to build confidence, create positive connections, and foster commitment, teamwork, and responsibility.
Young artists from Marquette, Alger, and Delta counties collaborate with adult teaching artists, designers, directors, and musicians year-round.
What they do SAY Theatre brings performing arts to youth across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with:
Full-scale productions — including large-cast musicals, plays, and one-act festivals
Workshops in audition prep, improvisation, design, and visual arts
Summer arts camps for ages 3-18 at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels
Technical training where youth serve as designers, crew members, and stage managers
Our Story (in their own words)
We have been part of the Marquette community for 20 years, beginning as a civic enrichment program through the City of Marquette Arts and Culture Center and eventually forming an independent 501(c)3 in 2015.
Since our founding, SAY Theater’s programming has expanded to include 3 to 4 large cast productions per year, a one-act play festival, a youth playwriting project, and a summer arts camp. We now serve approximately 300 youth ages 3-18 from and around Marquette County annually.
Inclusion Statement
SAY Theater works to create a more inclusive and equitable space for young people interested in theatre. We believe everyone deserves access to the performing arts regardless of age, ability, race, ethnicity, economic status, sexual orientation, and gender.
Our program includes need-based financial aid, wheelchair accessible rehearsal and performance spaces, and a faculty happy to work with families to meet participants’ individual physical, learning, and social needs. If there are ways we can be more welcoming to your family, please let us know at production@saytheater.org.
Why Arts Education Matters
Arts Education programs like SAY Theater are often under-funded by state and local governments, despite overwhelming evidence that access to the arts greatly contribute to students’ overall success at school.
The benefits of Arts Education during formative years help kids:
Engage with school and reduce stress
Develop social-emotional and interpersonal skills
Enrich their life experiences
Handle constructive criticism in productive ways
Bolster overall academic achievement
Improve focus
Ways To Give
SAY Theater invites donors and sponsors at multiple levels. offers multiple ways of getting involved. Those interested in supporting can visit www.saytheater.org/support
Why These Arts Orgs Matter
From visual arts in Benton Harbor to youth theatre in Marquette, ARS and SAY Theater embody how creativity can build confidence, resilience, and community. Supporting them helps ensure that Michigan’s next generation has the tools to imagine, express, and thrive.
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