| Neighborhood families flock to children’s programs at Katzen BY SALLY ACHARYA
photos by jeff watts 
The sound was a cross between a tribal chant and a humpback whale with the giggles. Woooo . . . eeeowwwwoooo . . . hoo hoo ha! It was coming from the performing arts studio at the Katzen Arts Center, and it emanated from a circle of wiggling, laughing children. They were warming up their voices to act out their impressions of the color blue. Or maybe it would turn into purple. At any rate, the sound was colorful, which was exactly the point. The children were among 200 young art enthusiasts at a recent arts program called “Kids at the Katzen.” It was the first multidisciplinary version of a popular Saturday arts workshop at AU’s arts complex. The first program was held last spring, with a workshop led by photographer Norma Quintana, whose work was then on exhibit. It proved so popular that children’s programs are now paired with each group of shows. The next will be in March. “Every time we do it, we get more and more people signing up,” said assistant gallery director Rachel Friedmann. Workshops fill up almost as soon as registration begins; when additional sessions are offered, they fill up immediately as well. 
The winter session was a change of pace, because it included theatre and music as well as the visual arts. The day began with a kid-friendly tour of the latest show, followed by the art-making session, an “instrument petting zoo” and music session with members of the music department, and a chance to work with actors to explore colors and shapes. That session began with a question: What shapes did they see around the room? The children peered around and didn’t find many run-of-the-mill squares and circles. “Octagon,” one girl announced. “Oval!” “Pyramid!” “Cylinder!” 
A much smaller, curly-haired boy sitting with his mother called out a perky “rectangle!” from the sidelines and was invited to join the older ones in the drama circle. They were soon hopping, skipping, and twisting as they acted out their shapes and colors. Red, it seems, does a lot of shaking, while an octagon requires the right number of hops. For the kids, it was a day of artistic fun. For many of the parents, it was a peek into a building they’d long wondered about. Around a quarter of the participants were children of alumni, while nearly three quarters came from the wider community. Neighbor Janice Barksdale had driven by the Katzen Arts Center almost every day, but had never found a reason to explore it until an AU alum and fellow parent at nearby Murch Elementary School told her about “Kids at the Katzen.” “It’s a nice opportunity to get families in,” said Amanda Brown, also a parent from Murch, which is a short drive from the Katzen. 
The spacious arts center wasn’t finished when Alena Brovkin ’05 was pursuing her master’s degree at the College of Arts and Sciences, so the Alexandria, Va., mother had never been inside the Katzen before she heard about the children’s program through the alumni network. But she signed up her eight-year-old daughter as soon as she heard about it. She was standing near a circle of keenly focused children who had just been instructed by AU art department chair Luis Silva to draw “the wackiest, goofiest face you can.” As the children scribbled away, intent on their snaggle-toothed monsters and mutant kitty princesses, the parents smiled. It was, said Barksdale, a Saturday well spent. And it was a pleasant introduction, as well, to a neighborhood resource. “Now that we’re here,” she said, “we’re definitely going to come back.” 
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