Transitional Learning Center Receives $10K Grant

In an effort to support performing arts for those in the , the Brahma House in Bridgewater has received a $10,000 grant for continuing education.

The grant comes from The Horizon Foundation, and is for the Brahma House's Transitional Learning Center.

"We have an in-house school for our teenage residents, a transitional learning center, and the arts program is part of that education," said Kathy Coulahan, communications manager for the Somerset Home.

Coulahan said the money will be used to help fund workshops, classes, art projects, field trips to museums, performances and equipment for hands-on projects. It will pay for participation in weekly arts education; workshops on dance, drama, music, painting and sculpture; and monthly visits with a guest artist.

One such program they have held recently, Coulahan said, involved bringing the students to Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, and allowing them to take pictures of what they saw.

"It's a combination of performances, visiting museums and doing their own hands-on projects," she said.

The Horizon Foundation has provided grants for the home for the past five years, Coulahan said, but this is the first time it is going to the visual and performing arts education program.

This is the third round of grants from The Horizon Foundation in 2011, providing about $396,000 to 23 different organizations, including the Somerset Home for Temporarily Displaced Children. The foundation supports charitable organizations promoting health and the arts throughout the state.

"We are proud to support these 23 organizations and the noble goals they are working very hard to achieve," said Robert Marino, chairman of the foundation's board of directors, in a release about the grant. "We recognize how these organizations are making a positive difference in the health and quality of life of individuals throughout New Jersey."

Coulahan said the arts are important for teenagers in the home because it gives them an outlet to express their feelings.

"They're teenagers who have been removed from their homes because of abuse, neglect or violence," she said. "The arts give them an outlet for frustration and loss, and gives them some success in the process."

"It gives them self-esteem and builds their social skills with other teens and outside organizations," she added.