The Born to Be Arts Academy, a program of the Moose Jaw Church of God, began a huge expansion this past April, including finding a new location and adding many new art classes for the children of the city.
“This was just a big, huge vault; there was nothing in here at all. We put up four walls, put everything in,” said Kyleigh Coad, co-executive director of Born to Be Arts Academy (B2BAA). “We’ve painted and put down flooring, we’ve put up mirrors and bars and made a whole art studio.”
The B2BAA grand opening is on Sunday, Aug. 28 at 3 p.m. Guests can tour the studio spaces and chat with the instructors. There will hot dogs, face-painting, and a ribbon cutting at 3:30 p.m.
B2BAA began 10 years ago as a weekly dance program taught by Coad, who has danced her entire life and is a member of the Canadian Dance Teachers Association and a Certified Teacher with the Associated Dance Arts for Professional Teachers.
At that time, Coad was the children’s pastor for the Moose Jaw Church of God (CoG).
“I have a background and training in dance, so I thought, let’s bring kids together, have a little dance class, then talk about God,” she explained. “We had 25 kids our first year. The second year, we had 100 kids registered. I quickly stopped being the children’s pastor and became the full-time dance director.”
There are almost 400 students now. After 10 years, CoG decided it was time to drastically expand the project.
In April, the church obtained the lease to the basement space in the old RBC Bank building at 52 High Street West. The massive vault doors had to be replaced with regular doors, walls needed to go up, and soundproofing was installed to help keep the classes separate.
B2BAA will now have the space from a dance academy to a full arts academy. Coad and Jessika Kopp, her co-executive director, have 10 other teachers helping them now. All the instructors are fully certified.
“We have all styles of dance, including our acro, and we have a full hands-on art where kids learn full art techniques,” Coad said. “Sculpting and painting and glassblowing, we have a pottery program starting … Then we have our Taekwondo program, then videography and photography.”
There’s more:
- Kindermusik
- Voice program
- Triple Threat Theatre Company — singing, dancing, acting, and producing musicals
- Drums
- Guitar
- Bass guitar
Easily register for all available programs at www.borntobe.ca.
Is this a church thing?
“Our philosophy, even in our church, is just that kids need a place to be,” Coad said. “They need a place to grow up, they need a place to feel loved, they need a place they can call their own.”
There is no need to be a member of the CoG to attend, or even to share their beliefs. B2BAA is open to all children who want to learn the arts.
Coad describes the academy as a non-profit charitable project of the Church of God.
“Sometimes people don’t think they can come because they don’t have a faith base or they aren’t part of our church. This is an opportunity for us to show that everyone is welcome.”
Is this a business?
“It is very important to say that we are not a business,” Coad said. “The church subsidizes all our programs, it subsidizes all our teachers, that’s the only reason we can charge what we charge.”
Coad feels strongly that B2BAA is not competing with other for-profit dance studios and arts teachers around the city. They are filling a niche for children whose parents can’t afford sports such as hockey.
“This is not a knock against hockey, though, that’s a very expensive thing to run. If we did not have the church’s backing, we’d have to charge exactly what they charge.
“We need the other studios and programs in our city, this is not us competing,” Coad added. “We’re a growing city and if we want to keep growing, we have to have opportunities for our kids.”
