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A Summer Girls Arts Program Has Miami-Dade Students Ready for Their Close-ups

BY LAURA STAMPLER
Published in The Miami Herald

On Monday, Gabriela Espino-Delgado was an assistant director.

On Tuesday she was in charge of holding the boom microphone -- taking short breaks to scratch an itchy nose.

By Wednesday, she helped edit her first documentary film.

Before this summer, Gabriela, 11, a student at Frank C. Martin K-8 Center in Kendall, thought that making a movie took two people, someone to stand in front of the camera and another to stand behind it.

But that was before she enrolled in GEM (Girls Empowerment and Mentoring) Summer Arts Program. There, she and 16 other girls learned the lingo, handled the equipment and reaped the rewards of producing three documentary films which are, fittingly, about three women who have had an impact in Miami-Dade County: Lydia Rubio (artist), Carol Stanfil (teacher) and Elizabeth Cozad (homemaker).

The documentaries, entitled Ancestral Voices, will be shown at the Women's Park from 1 to 4 p.m. Aug. 14, and housed in the Women's Park archives at 10251 W. Flagler St.

GEM is a pilot program funded in part by a grant from Miami-Dade Cultural Affairs' Children's Trust. The program is designed to empower girls, ages 11 to 16.

``We teach them that they have to have a goal in life and they have to visualize it,'' said Vivian Greer-Digon, GEM coordinator and manager of sister program RAICES Cultural Arts Center, a co-ed camp at Miller Drive Park for children ages 6 to 14. ``We polish a charcoal and turn it into a diamond.''

``We just make sure they don't drop the fifteen-hundred dollar boom,'' joked Stephanie Martino-Rizzi, executive director of the Florida Film Institute, which runs the program. Emmy-award winning producer Carl Kesser is working with them.

Additionally, staffers from the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami instruct the girls in studio art, while others teach them about theater and etiquette, including how to hold (empty) wine glasses properly.

``Most of my friends are chilling at home all day or going to the beach,'' said Emily Roberts, 12, a student at Florida Christian School. ``I'm learning.''

GEM cites studies detailing how arts education helps students score higher on SATs and achieve higher levels in college.

``The arts are being cut left and right, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to be here this summer,'' said Martino-Rizzi, who operates FFI-sponsored programs at six Dade public schools.

GEM does not cater solely to girls with artistic ambitions.

Cassandra Lillo, 12, hopes to become either a doctor or a lawyer. Gabriela dreams of becoming an Olympic swimmer -- she swam in the Junior Olympics this summer in Plantation.

Previously afraid to take the stage, theater is now her favorite part of the camp.

``My mom put me in GEM because she wanted me to feel good about myself this summer because usually I'm stuck in my box and only talk to my friends,'' Gabriela said.

``She wanted me to explode like a firecracker. . . I talk all the time now. That's the only bad part, my mom says.''

Rubio, one of the subjects of the documentary, left the girls with words of wisdom.

``The message was that they should not have fear in life, that they have to go for what their inner heart tells them and otherwise they will live difficult lives and unhappy lives,'' Rubio said. ``People from the staff said to me, `Hey, you really shook these girls and it's great because they need to be shaken.' ''