The Maria’s Children project began at the art center where children were engaged in a special kind of creativity but gradually it has grown beyond the walls of the studio. We have taught children to work with paints, clay and even embroidery without the aim to make them professional artists. The main focus is always to encourage the child to creatively express herself through any accessible means.

Our work does not end after the art lesson. Though many of our children also have proved to be gifted artists, we feel that it is more important to see the world in a new way, with a strong creative mind, and to cultivate a set of internal values that will guide them not only to success but also with the desire to share that important success with others, and to live according to this system.

In our program called “ Children to Children”, in partnership with various state and public organizations, our students and teachers volunteer to help others who are in a difficult life situation. They visit the littlest orphans in baby houses, walk and play with them and collect diapers for the baby houses. Already we have participated with the help of many others, in the “Dry Bottom” project that gathers diapers for the little ones. In the winter our students go to the Baby House in Fryazino to clear snow. Also our students and teachers paint murals there and other institutions to brighten the dreary environments and to help the inhabitants focus on beauty. The main goal of this project is to cheer up those who need some happiness and beauty.

Children also participate in clowning, a special focus of our center. We go to children who are ill, whose lives are on hard times, and try to support and amuse them and their families. Fortunately, we received an opportunity to stage such clowning events that lasted for several days, not only in Moscow, but also in other cities. During these excursions our children were able to broaden their understanding of the history and culture of the country they are part of while spreading laughter and smiles to orphanages, hospitals, and public areas.

Our children also invite guests to go on such excursions. Our studio has twice already arraigned for children from refugee camps in Chechnya to join us in our summer camp and we very much hope to continue this special project. This summer camp has been running for over nine years, you can read about this special part of our studio, and the plans for the future in a separate section. The more you learn about this the more you will want to join us in our work.

We try to teach children to help others but we also realize that these children need help themselves. So as our first group of orphans came to graduation age, we started to develop and implement a program of social adaptation to independent life. The children need a lot of support during this time of transition and this program needs your support to grow. A very important part of the social adaptation program is the Pelican Art Club.

Children who have grown up in orphanages are deprived of the very important contact between generations which so naturally exists in a traditional family. They do not have the luxury of parents or the benefit of grandparents, and in turn there are elderly people who are deprived contact with children because they live in senior centers. Among them are people with the riches life experiences. We have friends who live at homes for elderly veterans and homes for performers of the stage, we visit these places with the children to trade stories as our children read from books to those whose lives could be books themselves.

After working with Orphans and Disabled children for over ten years we are ready to share what we have learned, We regularly collaborate with the teachers at the orphanages, hosting seminars along with our children, encouraging the teachers to master new methods, psychological exercises and elements of Art therapy.

The partial education received in the orphanages, the narrow circle of influence and experiences prevent a child from truly thriving and having an enriched life. We understand this and work to increase their education with the intention of developing their intelligence to build psychological stability, self-sufficiency and personal growth. We have started an educational program for older children focusing on the production of plays based on Russian classics; we hope that this program will expand our studio in a new direction.

The greatest opportunity for an orphaned child’s life is adoption or placement in a foster family. The children dream of the day a Mother will come and take them home. Unfortunately in today’s society there is a stigma associated with the adoption of children. We try to find people that are willing to overcome this and take a child into their family, and we help them make that a reality. We host seminars, for potential foster parents, focused on learning to communicate with children who are often struggling with very deep psychological problems.

We are very happy to see that our studio and its model of helping others has inspired other people to do similar projects to help similar children. We would like to recognize the program “Chueshik-Puezhik” in St. Petersburg, this program has been running for several years already, an art studio for orphans under the direction of our good friend Marina Shusterman. Also in the town of Dmitrov there is a center called “StArt” , the directors of this program are very good people, Anna Semyonova and Nikolay Belonogov. We wish our friends great success in very important work!

If you want to help us to continue all the programs you can transfer a donation . Thank you!