Hamilton Wings works to promote leadership development and academic readiness of socially and/or economically challenged children through the use of and access to the arts. Hamilton Wings’ programs target diverse, economically and/or socially disadvantaged children aged 6-17 who have limited access to arts and enrichment programs at school and at home. Hamilton Wings offers youth and their families opportunities for meaningful, creative, non-traditional learning, and promotes participation by children and families in the area’s rich cultural resources. Founded in 1995 by (the late) Ann Jones, then principal of Garfield Elementary School, and Dr. Risé Jones, Hamilton Wings is an enrichment program that uses arts-immersion activities to promote leadership, self-development, and academic readiness among youth in the Elgin community. Hamilton Wings was named in memory of the late Dr. Charles Hamilton Jones. Early Hamilton Wings programs featured stand-alone Saturday sessions at Gail Borden Library primarily serving students from Elgin’s Garfield Elementary School. In collaboration with local artists, Hamilton Wings developed experiential learning workshops designed to introduce students to various art forms, which they then used to create arts-based projects and explore such related concepts as decision-making, self-representation, composition, and goal-setting. Programs included Do-It-Yourself Opera, a workshop with vocalists from Lyric Opera of Chicago; the Art of Etiquette with home economist Ellie McKinney (Vocational Technical Coordinator, District U-46); the Art of Creating Theatre with dramatist Gerri Carter; Abstract Art with John Davy of the Fox Valley Arts Council; Newspaper Writing with Teresa Mask of the Daily Herald; and the Art of Ballet with guest teachers from the Lisa Boehm School of Ballet.
