A gift from Duke Energy Progress will enable the Cameron Art Museum (CAM) to create and conduct a program connecting 100 young people from local youth development organizations with the CAM’s current exhibition: Well Suited: The Costumes of Alonzo V. Wilson for HBO’s Treme.

Representatives of Duke Energy will visit the CAM Thursday afternoon to present a check for $9,000 to museum officials, according to museum spokeswoman Kim Kelly.

Using the Well Suited exhibition as a starting point, CAM education staffers have designed a series of workshops for the youngsters. First, the children will tour the exhibition with a guide and begin work on a hands-on art project developed especially for them by a teaching artist.

The teaching artist will subsequently visit each agency site to assist the young people in completing projects they began at the museum.

The program will culminate in a celebration at the museum where children and their families and friends are invited to attend the museum exhibition of their own artwork on display November 2 and meet and talk with costume designer Alonzo V. Wilson.

Wilson, who has roots in Wilmington, is a successful African-American/ Native American artist who is a rising star in the film industry.

The project has “a whole lot of pieces,” Kelly said, but is uniquely suited to the Wilmington community, which has a strong artistic heritage as well as close connections to the film industry.

To fund the project, Kelly and CAM executive director Anne Brennan approached Duke Energy, whose philanthropic focus is education. In their funding request, they emphasized the benefits of art study to at-risk youth – benefits that have been documented in two studies. The studies concluded that experiences with art improve children’s self-image, critical thinking abilities and academic performance. In addition, art study programs provided a context for the children to develop mentoring relationships with adults and older peers.

"Duke Energy's partnership with Cameron Art Museum creates opportunities for our community's youth to experience the arts, not only as spectators, but as creators," John Elliott, Duke Energy district manager, said in a release from the museum. "We're proud to support this program."