For 30 years, the ArtWorks Program has connected students across Cape Cod and the Islands with working artists who open their studios, businesses, and creative lives to the next generation.
As Kara O’Donnell, Executive Director of the MassHire Cape & Islands Workforce Board, explains, the program’s success is rooted in mentorship. “The ArtWorks program wouldn’t exist without the dedication of our many artist mentors… These artists welcome students into their homes, their studios, their storefronts, and they open their hearts to all involved.”
Each month this year, we are going to highlight a few of our fantastic mentors beginning with Kenard Smith and Betsy Payne Cook.
Kenard Smith, ArtWorks Mentor & Fashion Designer
For fashion designer Kenard Smith, ArtWorks is about belonging. “One word that describes ArtWorks is community,” he says. “From the organizers, the mentors, the mentees, it’s all one big family.”
Through the ArtWorks Program, Kenard mentors students who are curious about sewing and garment design, helping them turn passion into possibility. His role, as he sees it, is to be a steady guide, someone who encourages students to commit fully to their creative instincts.
“I see myself being that person guiding those who have the passion to sew or create clothes, garments, to dive head in first and just keep going at it,” Kenard shares. “Because you never know what can come from it.”
That sense of possibility is central to ArtWorks. When students express interest in a specific creative pathway, Kara explains, the Workforce Board intentionally pairs them with mentors like Kenard, artists who can nurture both skill and confidence.
Betsy Payne Cooke, ArtWorks Mentor & Pastel and Mixed Media Artist
Artist Betsy Payne Cooke who has been with the program for X years, describes ArtWorks with a word that reflects both creativity and longevity: inventive.
“Just the fact that someone had this nugget of an idea that has existed for now 30 years,” she says. “Every time there’s a new student, you’re inventing something new.”
As a visual arts mentor, Betsy helps students explore what it means to create, as well as to claim the title of artist for themselves.
“The word artist sounds like a really big word,” she reflects. “But if you are creating and sharing and exploring, experimenting – you are an artist. You are taking what’s inside and you’re bringing it out and you’re sharing it.”
That philosophy aligns closely with the ArtWorks mission. The program provides hands-on, career-connected arts education, pairing students with mentors who encourage experimentation, self-expression, and growth, and culminates in the annual ArtWorks Exhibit, where students share their work with the broader community.
