The next great American artists could be in Natchez and Dena Green wants to find them.

Green has organized an after school arts and crafts program for school children between 3- and 18-years-old.

“When children go though the school systems, sometimes they lack the time to do a lot of creative and imaginative things,” Green said. “Right now kids aren’t as creative as they can because they don’t have the skills to express it.”

But that will end if Green’s program is a success. Green plans to offer students instruction in beading, quilting, painting, drawing and needlework. She will also bring in local artists to help teach the students.

Registration is Friday from 9 to 10 a.m. and 6 to 7 p.m. at the Natchez Convention Center. Classes will start in September. The class is $15 a week and will be from 3 to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday for children 6 years old and older.

Children aged 3 to 5 will have class once a week on Fridays.

Green said having one class devoted to the younger children will allow the teachers to give more individual attention.

“Grouping them together like that will allow us to spend much more time working with them,” she said. “Because of their age, they need that sort of attention.”

In addition to the $15 weekly fee that covers materials, students will need an artist’s smock or apron to protect the children’s clothes. Some projects, like candle making, might also require additional supplies, but Green said the outside costs will be minimal and announced in advance.

“We want to make this as convenient for parents and children as possible,” she said. “We don’t want to exclude anyone for any reason.”

The format of the program will be fairly free-flowing, because Green said that allows students to migrate toward the medium in which they are most interested.

She said students will pick a project to work on and will many times be grouped with other students to complete that.

“They will not only learn a craft they can take with them, but will get experience working with others to accomplish one goal,” she said.

Once that project is done, students pick their next project.

Green is working with officials at NAPAC and hopes to use the basement of that building as the headquarters for the program. The art already housed in the museum will provide great inspiration for the young artists, Green said.

“Art gives children some mental relaxation,” she said. “After a full day at school, some children need to just sit and relax, and this gives them the chance to do that.”

At the end of the program, the students will host an exhibit for family and friends. Green said students will display their completed projects and will even have some items for sale.

“This is about more than art,” she said. “It’s about these children becoming more self reliant.”

Green, who moved to Natchez from California six years ago, said other towns she lived in offered similar programs and she saw the impact those programs had on the children enrolled.

“I’ve seen what it can do in larger cities,” Green said. “There is no reason that just because we live in a smaller community, we shouldn’t have the same opportunities.”

Green knows not everyone will enjoy the art program, but she believes every child should at least have a chance to experience art.

“If they don’t like it then that’s OK,” she said. “At least they got exposed to it.”

For more information about the program, call Dena Green at 601-445-4665.