Center for Creative Education launches satellite afterschool program in New Paltz

The Center for Creative Education has recently began offering weekly afterschool programs at Redeemer Lutheran Church in New Paltz. Offerings include arts and crafts, games, dance, theater and music. This photo was taken during the open Hip Hop dance session. (Photo by Lauren Thomas) Unless you’re a rank newcomer to Ulster County, you’ve heard about the Center for Creative Education (CCE). The highly esteemed not-for-profit organization, whose mission is “to enrich the social and cultural awareness of our youth and community through arts, wellness and education,” has been making its mark for 35 years now. If you’ve been to a parade or other mass public event in these parts, the odds are high that you’ve seen and heard the Percussion Orchestra of Kingston (POOK) and the Energy Dance Company in action. The Energy dancers have performed everywhere from Jacob’s Pillow to the Apollo Theater to the United Nations and won a long list of regional and national awards. CCE itself was the 2021 honoree for Mohonk Consultations’ 2021 Distinguished Achievement Award (https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2021/09/23/mohonk-consultations-honors-center-for-creative-education-with-distinguished-achievement-award). Founded in Stone Ridge in 1989 by percussionist Evry Mann to address a dearth of afterschool arts programming, CCE relocated to Midtown Kingston about a decade later, to...