Grandville Avenue Arts and Humanities (GAAH) fosters communities of care and belonging at two locations on the southwest side of Grand Rapids: the Cook Arts Center and the Cook Library Center. We work with our neighbors in Roosevelt Park and Black Hills, with a focus on K-12 youth. 

Institutional culture has historically oppressed communities of color, and our neighborhood is no exception. It often makes our neighbors feel frustrated, powerless, or stuck. At GAAH, we push against that institutional culture and engage with our neighbors through the arts and humanities to cultivate curiosity, creativity, and trusting relationships in ways that validate them as they forge new pathways.

LAST YEAR AT-A-GLANCE

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Our Programs

Between our two facilities, we offer seven core programs. During the school year we offer our After School Arts program at the Cook Arts Center, and our Cook Library After School at our Cook Library Center. These offerings include dance, music, visual arts, and pottery classes, along with homework help, tutoring, and other after-school activities for neighborhood youth and families. 

During the summer, we offer three different day camps - Summer Arts & Learning, Cook Library Summer Camp, and Girls Rock! Grand Rapids. 

Year-round, we provide a full offering of library services at the Cook Library Center, and programming specifically for teens, through our Teen Leaders program.

All of our classes and programs are free for anyone who lives in the neighborhood or attends our neighborhood schools. 

Although each program is different, we work to actively create spaces of care and belonging, and use the arts and humanities as tools for participants to actively discover things about themselves and the world around them.