Our award winning after-school program is now enrolling children in grades K-6th.  Join us for in-depth arts education in cooking, visual arts, music and movement.  Our program is enrichment based.  Children are engaged in classes to provide them with a different way of thinking, interacting, moving and engaging from their typical school day encounters.

Our schedule is:

Monday - Cooking

Tuesday - Arts/Crafts

Wednesday - Music

Thursday - Movement/Dance

Friday - Music

Classes run Monday through Friday from 3:30 - 5:30 pm.  Daily snack is provided and free pick up is available from Susitna Elementary.  We accept all forms of Child Care Assistance.  Children with special needs are welcome as all activities are individualized.

Our Instructors

The Joy Greisen JEC ReCreation After-school Arts Program creates an appreciation for all art forms by pairing kids with professional instructors.  Our arts classes are taught by professionals, not 18 year olds who are ‘babysitting’ your children.  We occasionally have the great opportunity for guest teachers to be brought in for special projects.

Roberta (Music & Arts/Crafts) - Roberta taught as a general music teacher for elementary schools at Alexandria and Fairfax County Public schools in Virginia.  In Maryland she taught private voice and piano; general vocal music classes; music history, theory, and analysis; Orff; and musical theater at two private arts schools.   She created and directed four award-winning performing groups between 1995 and 1999.  Roberta has also received her specialist certification in Music Education from George Mason University, with her focus being Orff-Schulwerk and multi-cultural music.  Her favorite-aged child to work with is always whoever is in front of her at the time.

Judith (Cooking) - Judith is a UAA culinary graduate who loves to teach cooking. Her specialties are ethnic food: Asian (Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian), Regional Italian and Ethiopian with an emphasis on traditional technique and authentic ingredients.  During the school year she teaches a different series of cuisine each semester at the UAA Culinary department.

Ariel (Movement/Dance) - Born and raised in Anchorage, Ariel holds a B.A. from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania.  She also works as the assistant director of Dance Contempo at East High School and is a member of the Momentum Dance Collective, a local Anchorage dance company.   

Our Community

Since its inception in 2005, The Joy Greisen JEC ReCreation After-school Art Program has completed dozens of art projects, most of which were donated to local agencies. We are dedicated to using recycled or donated goods whenever possible.  Our arts/crafts classes create painted scarves for cancer patients, art work for homeless shelters and rehab patients and painted ceramics for a benefit auction.

Our accomplishments include:

Painting 150 silk scarves for breast cancer patients

Making 75 mastectomy pillows for local cancer hospitals

Providing artwork for every resident and the common areas of The Salvation Army’s Clitheroe Rehabilitation Center.

Creating coordinating ceramic place settings for an auction benefitting The Alaska Food Bank

Collecting 100 T-shirts and making them into reusable shopping bags

Decorating small bags of toiletries for the Brother Francis Shelter

Mentoring younger students in creative service learning

Hours of operation are 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday; partial week enrollment is available.

Click here for the ReCreation Brochure