A young dancer shows his moves during a TANSIT ARTS performance this summer. (Credit: Photo courtesy Greater Columbus Arts Council)

“Where did your find your blessing?” asks a young African-American woman, standing in front of an audience, notebook in hand, her voice quiet but sure. It’s a Thursday night at the St. Stephen’s Settlement House on the north side of town. The gymnasium is filled with hip-hop dancers in one corner and sweet-faced kids with beads clacking in their hair, concentrating on paintings in another. Center stage is the young writer, asking her profound question.

Across from the poet, standing behind the last row of the folding chairs, could very well be the answer to her query. Jackie Calderone, a small, silver-haired woman, dressed all in black down to her thick Doc Marten’s, watches the performance intently, hand on her chin, eyes offering support across the crowded room. As the director of citywide non-profit art program TRANSIT ARTS, Calderone is more than just an educator.

“I’d probably be dead,” said 19-year-old Kat Harris as she leaves the floor after showing off her dance skills. “The program, Miss Jackie, everything … without it …”

Harris tells the story of an adolescence filled with anger and depression. When she found Calderone and TRANSIT ARTS, she discovered a love for art.

“Art became my outlet,” she explained. “I wish there were more Jackies in the world. She’s like everyone’s grandma; she’s sweet and she doesn’t judge.”

“I started coming to TRANSIT ARTS when I was 14,” said Harris’ dancing compatriot, Dezwuan Wilford. “It was a place for me to go after school, and it’s like family. What would I be doing without Miss Jackie? Nothing good.”

“Miss Jackie” has been working with the inner-city teens of Columbus for two decades. She’s gone from being everyone’s mom to everyone’s grandma. Working with projects such as the Ohio Arts Council, Short Stop Teen Center, CAPACity and TRANSIT ARTS, Calderone has made it her life’s purpose to introduce art and passion into the hearts of young people through her charitable efforts.

Why do you think you work so well with inner-city teenagers?

Growing up for me was tough. We, bizarrely, lived in a dilapidated house in a nice neighborhood, so I would go to a “rich” school in Goodwill clothes. I think that gives me a real connection to these kids who are without opportunity. Dance saved my life. My dad was great, he would find ways to trade for my dance lessons. I performed a lot, and that gave me confidence. If there had been one shift in circumstance, I’d be on public assistance today.

We’re meeting at the Central Community House on East Main Street. Before going outside to talk and enjoy the unusually warm day, we spend some time looking through the scrapbooks of Richard Duarte Brown, a fellow art educator, has hauled in. The books go back 20 years and chronicle the pair’s work with teenagers from the Short Stop to TRANSIT ARTS. “He’s married now ... ,” “He brings his kids in ... ,” “He’s in a wheelchair ... ,” are some of the comments that accompany the turning of the pages. Calderone smiles often and adds her own stories to the mix.

“I remember that time he was so drunk he wanted to kill his girlfriend because he found out she was pregnant with another man’s baby,” exclaimed Calderone, in reference to one of the photos. “I grabbed him and got him down to OSU as fast as I could to hug a tree and then brought him to my house to lay in my hammock.”

“When she first came around,” laughed Brown, “we thought she was the Feds, this little white lady. But she allowed me to follow my dream of fixing the world with paint.”

In this economy, is fundraising difficult?

Families are in incredibly dire straits – they have no rent or no shoes, yet they want these experiences for their kids because it gives them a sense of self-respect and possibility. When CAPACity lost its funding in 2006, the Central Community House said, ‘We cannot lose this program, because the arts are critical to our kids and families.’ So the Columbus Federation of Settlements (a coalition of neighborhood-based organizations) adopted us. We have dozens of partners. Tim Katz of the Greater Columbus Arts Council came to visit on a day when we were taking family portraits. He saw families lined up outside the building and was so excited he and the GCAC formed a partnership with us, Art in the House.

What is one thing you wish you could change about the circumstances of the TRANSIT ARTS kids?

Lack of self-respect is the biggest killer, especially for young black men because of how the media portrays them. The vast majority of black men I know are trying to take care of their families, they’re braiding their daughter’s hair, and they’re walking down the street holding hands with their kids. They are good, loving, contributing members of society.

How important is it for the people of Columbus to get to know others outside of their neighborhood?

Every once in awhile, we host a diverse group of adults and leadership people for ‘dine and discussion.’ We have food that represents different cultures and we have these amazing discussions about politics, religion – it’s no-holds-barred. We had a woman from the suburbs come to visit – she’d never had the chance to sit down with a young black man from the ’hood. It was an amazing experience for her. She learned things she had no clue about. When she left, she said, ‘What a gift this has been for me.’ For the kids, it helps them navigate a diverse society.

What’s next for TRANSIT ARTS?

We are working on the Walter and Marian English Center for Art and Community on Bryden Road that will be specifically for the arts. The big house will be intergenerational, with a kitchen, coffeehouse and gallery. People can come and get involved, or take a hip-hop or cooking class. Classes will be taught by young artists. The carriage house out back will be for TRANSIT ARTS; we’ll have our own space! That is so important. We are so excited. For years, people have been asking, “Can we just come and watch? Can we learn?”

International singing star Josh Groban, on his last visit in Columbus, was so impressed by the TRANSIT ARTS kids and the Bryden Road project that he donated $3,000 to their efforts.

How does your work add to your life?

It’s incredibly selfish, but it is such an incredible high to watch a light bulb come on in a young person. It’s exciting; it’s gratifying. It sounds like hocus-pocus, but I truly believe that we are the same … some kind of quantum physics thing … but we are all of the same essence; some part of us is shared with each other. Like tree roots. It’s magical, and it feeds me. One of my gifts is being able to see talents in people they don’t see in themselves. I have this vision that bores through and sees what’s percolating in there. I help them dig it out and make sure they have the resources to keep going.

For Calderone, her blessing is found in giving back to the community by providing a space for young people to find family and making the arts available to all young people who yearn for expression.

“It’s cheaper than therapy,” she laughed. “We are all human and hungry to connect, to learn.”

For information on TRANSIT ARTS, including upcoming performances or ways to get involved or contribute, visit www.transitarts.com.