Shelburne Craft School, housing trust bring art to local kids

The Shelburne Craft School and the Champlain Housing Trust have teamed up to bring the joy of the arts to children and families who live at Harbor Place.

Harbor Place, which operates from the former Days Inn on Shelburne Road, is a transitional housing facility for individuals and families experiencing homelessness and part of the state’s for emergency hotel housing voucher program.

Heather Moore, executive director of the Shelburne Craft School, said the partnership will play a crucial role in expanding art services to all those who call Shelburne home, even those who might be there temporarily.

“The families and the children are so grateful to have access to the arts, as well as the staff, and even folks that are staying there that are not part of the art but are just walking by. I’ve probably been thanked 45 times in the hour that I’m there for just being there,” Moore said.

Harbor Place is owned and operated by Champlain Housing Trust, a community land trust that supports communities through the development and stewardship of permanently affordable homes and related community assets, according to its mission statement.

“All of our guests at Harbor Place are high risk. They have first-hand experience with homelessness and mental health issues and addiction,” Kristen Ciambella, the community building and engagement manager with the Champlain Housing Trust, said. “So right now, Harbor Place is transitional housing, meaning it’s temporary. They’re there with vouchers through the state, and the goal is once they leave (Harbor Place) to get them into permanent housing.”

When Champlain Housing Trust bought the Days Inn property in 2021 for $7.345 million, funded with a grant from the American Recovery Plan Act, the trust moved people who were housed at the former Harbor Place across the street to the hotel last August. The former Harbor Place is now being converted into nearly 100 affordable rental and homeowner units.

From contentious zoning battles to public hearings regarding safety concerns, the Champlain Housing Trust’s affordable housing initiatives in Shelburne have not always been warmly welcomed by neighboring residents, especially those abutting the Days Inn property.

“I think it kind of humanizes the folks there. My experience when you’re dealing with this demographic, people tend to ‘other’ them, and they are just as an integral part of the Shelburne community as anyone else,” explained Ciambella.

“They say kids are adaptable? But still, (not having a home) is not a traditional childhood so to be able to give them something like arts and crafts, coloring books, it kind of normalizes a not normal situation,” she continued.

Moore explained that during her hour-long monthly sessions, she sees groups of preteens, some elementary-aged students along with infants and toddlers. “So, I try to bring enough crafting stuff for all the different ages,” she said.

From air-dried clay projects to paints and marker exercises, the kids see a new activity every single month.

“At the end, I get to divide up the art supplies that I bring and just give them away,” she said. “You’d think I was handing out bars of gold, these kids are so grateful and excited to continue to do art in their rooms.”

This year, the $3,000 allocated to the project was raised through the fifth annual HeART Show put on by local artist Ashley Campbell.

“Artists create these hearts around Valentine’s Day and people bid on them and then (Campbell) gives the money to nonprofits. We were recipients for some of that money this year,” Moore said.

She also explained that the project has seen overwhelming support by the Shelburne Craft School’s board members including the newest selectboard member, Andrew Everett, who’s been president of the school board for two years.

“Shelburne is a pretty wealthy town so it serves a relatively affluent clientele, and we are always looking for ways to diversify the folks that can use the programs and the facilities,” he said. “So, getting out into the community and kind of using the craft school brand to do programs elsewhere.

“With regard to the location, it’s obviously been a contentious issue in town. I think it’s just a way to get beyond the back and forth of the politics and just focus on the kids,” Everett said.

Aside from the impact this program makes on kids, it also offers a way for adults to socialize and get to know one another in a way that they might have not before.

“It’s a nice way to bring the folks that are in there with children together too because they might not necessarily know that somebody else has a 3-year-old and then they play together,” said Moore.

Along with the $3,000 in donated funds, Moore noted that multiple board members are donating specifically to keep this program up and running — an expense that doesn’t cost much to maintain.

“Whenever I get money for it, it goes right to those kids,” she said. “I’d like to make kits so that every kid that comes into Harbor Place gets a kit when they move in. So paper, markers and pens, that kind of thing.”

In addition to the Harbor Place partnership, the craft school has partnered with five other organizations to bring the joy of crafting to everyone and anyone. Since being hired last July, Moore said that the community connections and partnerships have more than tripled with the intention of growing those numbers to reach even more members of the Shelburne community.

With nearly 75 children living at Harbor Place every year, the hope is that this program can continue to grow the relationship that the community has with the facility to “get the kids and families there more access to good things,” Moore said. “I have to say, it’s such a joyful thing. I thought I would have hired a teacher to do it for me by now, but I just love it so much. It’s just really fun.”