Clubhouse’s Artists Gain Market Savvy

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To raise money for a new home for the Boys & Girls Club Windward Clubhouse, six of its members have produced notecards, which they hope to soon market in local stores.

On a recent afternoon the girls - Maria Leineweber,Briana Green,NaJa Craig, Lydia Sato and Cecelia Weeb - met at their clubhouse behind Kailua Intermediate School to box up the cards. (Shelly Yoshimura also worked on the project, but was not present at interview time.) The girls also plan to sell the cards from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. this Saturday at Pohai Nani Craft & Bake Sale in Kaneohe (see page 5 story).

They chose the card designs from a set of three they were shown, explained Weeb, now a Kalaheo High student, noting that “we picked the ones we liked best.”

They created two sets of cards, one with images of a fish, turtle or sunset on the front and a red or green background using a block-print technique. The second set has a rainbow image on black background. Both will sell in boxes of nine cards - $9 for the red and green cards, and $11 for the rainbow design.All are blank inside and can be used for any occasion.

The girls worked in groups part of the time to produce and print the cards. They found boxes and researched online different ways to package them. They also pre-sold some to BGC board members.

The concept of teamwork was one thing the girls said they took away from this project.“It was fun. The money is going to building of the new Boys & Girls Club,” said Craig, a KIS eighth-grader along with Sato and Leineweber.

“We have marketing skills (now),” added Weeb. “We know how to work printers,computers.We’re trying to get the cards in stores, produce more stuff.” By “more stuff” they mean T-shirts, calendars and possibly mugs bearing the same designs as the cards.

Most of the girls have been members since grade 6 or 7, according to clubhouse director Maureen Purington, who praised volunteer Gay Tsukamaki for helping get the project off the ground. “She took it under her wing, helped the girls along. The goal was to get this done.”

Tsukamaki said the idea for the notecards came from a couple of sources. Windward Arts Council adopted the clubhouse early on and has provided visiting artists who conduct workshops in various media with the kids.

“We started seeing some of the art that comes out and thought some of it is really good,“Tsukamaki added. “We took that to the next level. This project was conceived in a meeting with myself and (BGCH executive director) David Nakada. He’s had this idea for some time, too.”

The next step was how to pay for the ink and cards, she said. Tsykamaki credits Sunrise Rotary Club with offering $1,000 in seed money so the market research and production could begin.

“We will go wherever the youths take us. So we’re really doing this as we go, based on their interests and letting them drive the project. I’m working on it as an adviser; so is Dixon Smith. He’s a volunteer in the community.

“It’s a work in progress, only half way through,“she added,noting the project was on hold during the summer.“The ideal thing in the fall is to have some of them come back, but to have additional youths who might be new to the club. It’s to provide them with a little window of something along their way and a little skill that they pick up.”