Sarah Colburn, Special to the Times Published 5:10 p.m. CT Dec. 10, 2019 | Updated 5:13 p.m. CT Dec. 10, 2019

From dance and fashion to music and visual arts, this years Global Wonderland holiday showcase will feature art inspired by different cultures of the world.(Photo: Boys & Girls Club of Central Minnesota)

From dance and fashion to music and visual arts, this years Global Wonderland holiday showcase will feature art inspired by different cultures of the world.

The annual showcase event by the Boys & Girls Club of Central Minnesota features the work of local kids from area clubs.

"Were teaching kids about the world around them, different cultures, different heritages, helping them find out about their family in other cultures,"said Aimee Minnerath, marketing manager. "If we teach our kids early to celebrate cultures, celebrate diversity, to teach that early on, its going to improve peace in our communities."

The clubs are providing those lessons through an arts lens. The effort is part of the clubs Youth Arts Initiative, a formal program and grant that helped the organization cover the cost of hiring full-time and part-time art mentors to work with kids.

From dance and fashion to music and visual arts, this years Global Wonderland holiday showcase will feature art inspired by different cultures of the world.(Photo: Boys & Girls Club of Central Minnesota)

Though the funding has ended, the Central Minnesota board voted to continue the effort and the focus, now raising dollars through community fundraising to support the program.

This years event will include a formal fashion show with designs created completely by kids even a dress inspired by 1850s England. The showcase also includes live, on-stage dance performances, live beatboxing, spoken word and displays of digital arts, interior design, visual arts and food samples from the culinary arts.

Natalie Carr is the lead dance artist mentor and said students learned about cultural holidays and used that as inspiration to create their own pieces.

Additionally, students studied with Ballet Hispanico and learned not only choreography, but lessons on the importance of culture.

"Its giving them more intentional cultural understanding,"Carr said.

From dance and fashion to music and visual arts, this years Global Wonderland holiday showcase will feature art inspired by different cultures of the world.(Photo: Boys & Girls Club of Central Minnesota)

Each week in the visual arts students focused their learning on a different culture and then created artwork representative of their teachings.

As important as the artwork itself, Minnerath said, is that students chose an area of study and worked on it, beginning to end, during a six-week session.

"Its about the process our kids are taking, developing as young people, developing as artists and committing to an art form,"Minnerath said. "Its about the process of youth development using the arts as a catalyst."

Carr sees first hand as students work through elaborate choreography.

"Its teaching them to follow through with it and not stop when something gets hard,"she said. "Theyre building skills for life."

This years Global Wonderland event is free. The event begins at 6 p.m. on Dec. 18 with holiday activities, an art exhibit in the gym and food samples. The showcase begins on stage at 6:30 p.m. and will run at least 60 minutes. The Global Wonderland event will be held at the Eastside Boys & Girls Club, 320 Raymond Ave. NE, St. Cloud. Cookies and cocoa will be available.

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