SIAN MACLEAN (Art Therapist and Psychotherapist)

The portrayal of oneself as a Superhero is a powerful and creative tool that enhances self esteem in children and adolescents, and fosters a positive sense of self. Attributing qualities of strength and courage to a representation of the self is empowering and gives greater purpose and meaning to one’s life, and also encourages empathy and a desire to help others.  I applaud Trinidad Home Studio for their summer project initiative and look forward to seeing many more of this type of exercise in the future.

SYLPHIL HOME IN LOVE (Tobago)

The Children were excited and we saw them go into their imagination and this helped us, it helped us find another way of engaging them productively.

LADY HOCHOY HOME (North)

Our children enjoyed this project and eventually they understood the concept of a hero, that they didn’t have to be Batman or Superman but someone that helped the community, even if its just giving of food or helping the elderly.  They understood that their super powers could be qualities they already had like helping others and compassion.

LEIZELLE AND CHRISTOPHER GUINNESS (Bepperton Productions)

This was a great initiative and we were very happy to be a part of a project that stimulates positive energy, enabling our children to seek and create good identities through art.

KARINA SINGH (Volunteer)

Giving your time to charity is always a fulfilling, gratifying feeling and I can truly say that working with the boys of the Joshua Boys’ Home was nothing less than that. I was surprised to see how welcoming and enthusiastic the children were; all ready to participate in whatever activity I engaged them in.  Though some were shy at first, as time passed they warmed up to the idea of new company. I couldn’t help but be amazed at their levels of creativity, and the sheer joy they expressed from simply getting to paint, colour or draw. Without a doubt I can assure you that they truly enjoyed the experience. It was a blessing to work with those great boys, and thank you so much to Trinidad Home Studio for allowing me the opportunity to.

SCRIP J LTD (Major Sponsor 2012- printing of publications)

We would like to thank Trinidad Home Studio for giving us the opportunity to support such a worthy initiative. It is unfortunately rare these days that children are given a platform to envision themselves in a positive light and to emulate and aspire to traits of virtue, integrity, humility and benevolence. We applaud you for providing such an opportunity.

JOSHUA BOYS HOME

This project was fantastic. I thought the boys would be shy but they were very comfortable with the volunteer and responded well.  They still talk about the visit and ask when they could do another activity.  They enjoy talking about it and the person working with them was very patient and kind. Thank you.

 THE NAMASTE FOUNDATION (Don Bideshi, Director)

While this project undoubtedly fosters the creative aspect of childhood development and provides a vehicle for self-expression, it also provides a unique insight from the perception of young children from various communities,. The drawings submitted reflect perceived social issues and their solutions to same are personified in the superpowers bestowed onto themselves.  It is worth noting that even at their young age, the participants in this project, almost instinctively, want to protect their loved ones, and to make the world a better place.  If nothing else this reflects hope for the generations to come.  We look forward to the continuation and expansion of this project. We hope it continues to get support from both individuals and corporate society. Congratulations to Trinidad Home Studio Ltd on a fantastic initiative.

SHARE GOODNESS (NGO Director- Deepak Lall)

We were really proud to contribute in whatever little way we could to this project. Art is a great tool for engaging kids and encouraging creative expression, and any project that could successfully implement this is bound to contribute to progress in one way or another. We endorse too, all the insights from the Namaste Foundation on the project and we look forward to great things in the future from Trinidad Home Studio.

PEAKE TRADING LTD (Major Sponsor 2012/2013 – materials and craft items)

I am very passionate about supporting those who need support. Young children, especially those who have faced challenges in their early life are definitely of importance to me. A project that even if in subtle ways aims at empowering or developing these children is something that I support with pleasure.


CHRIST CHILD CONVALESCENT HOME

Children are dreamers, they prefer to draw than to write.  They are very expressive and loved this project.  They were very excited and would draw and tell you an entire story around their drawings. They wanted to draw more than one picture, an more than one hero and power. We even had to curb them for this project by asking them to choose their favourite for the final submission.

BACKPACK PROJECT (Ms. Michelle A. Kandasammy, Co-Founder/Director )

Empowering our youth to believe that they are worthy of achieving a happy, successful life is part of the formula needed to combat poverty and strife in our society. When we heard of the Summer Heroes Project and its intent of developing positive self image and esteem, we just had to assist in whatever way we could.  

ARC MAGAZINE

The re-envisioning of self to a child is an essential part of empowerment and establishes a link to understanding how confidence shapes a personality and a persona. By making links between strong points embedded in each character the children participating in Trinidad Home Studio ‘Summer Heroes Project’, are able to imagine self in a previous unrealized way. All of these things make Summer Heroes a project that has the capacity to transform communities and unearth unreached and unimagined potential.

ELSA CLARKE (Artist and Lecturer at UWI. Masters in Art Education) – Guest Facilitator in 2013

I always like it when projects impact positively on kids, and using art for issue-based work creates such amazing insights and empowering moments

DANIELLE DUBOULAY (Artist and Art Educator) – An Art Facilitator for 2013

“Kids are indeed heroes and each one has the power to change the world.” Hence why I donated to this great Summer Hero Project. As an Afterschool Art Teacher, I believe we must teach kids to follow their passion freely at an early age. This will instinctively follow them throughout their entire lives. Drawing yourself as a super hero can be the beginning of developing a passion. 

GROWING LEADERS FOUNDATION (Founder, Sallyann Della Casa, A Guest Speaker for 2013)

The gift is always in the giving. It is only when we come together and uplift each other that we are truly impacting and making change…….we are truly honored at GLF to play a small part in helping Jamie on this great endeavor!” 

SHAWN MAHASE (Volunteer)

Going to do this project in the Childrens’ Homes was a thrill and brought great joy to us and to the children. I dressed in a Superman T-Shirt for effect. They are anxious for activities and we quickly realized that after we did a quick chat to the groups about which Superheroes they liked and what powers they knew about, that these children were smarter than we had anticipated.

 First was the brainstorming or thinking. All sorts of ideas flowed some typical based on popular heroes and some mischievous. The paper showed how Each kid was Unique. Some had drawing skills and others just had little confidence in themselves. A 6 year old boy secretly told me that he know I was in fact Superman and wanted to know how I fly.

We had to listen to them carefully and deter them from tracing as we followed the vision we got from this brilliant project idea. We helped aid the children to express themselves in some way that they themselves were revealing to us but could not put down. By the end you can see they all had planted in their minds that they too can be heroes.

K2K ALLIANCE AND PARTNERS

“Summer Heroes is a beautiful and powerful initiative and we are excited to work alongside Trinidad Home Studios in cultivating and fostering creativity” – K2K Alliance and Partners

COUVA CHILDREN’S HOME

 The children took this project very seriously although they had a lot of fun. It kept them quiet and happy. They were very particular with how they approached their drawings and told their teachers “Don’t tell us how to draw it. We will do it our way.”  As a caretaker I can attest it was a great initiative.  We need to respect their need for expression.  Any drawing will tell you about a child and what’s going on in their mind and life.  They went into themselves and were very contemplative.  It was a form of expression they preferred over talking. And this helped us understand them more.

 

 

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