CREATIVE KIDS: When it comes to drawing, Donatella Versace has a piece of advice for children. “Don’t be afraid,” she said at the Whitney Museum of American Art on Wednesday. “Do what comes from your heart, don’t think too much, just be free and have fun.” Versace breezed into town this week to kick off Art Unites, a special initiative her fashion house developed with the museum, with an afternoon art party. There were two sessions of 15 children from the New York chapter of the Starlight Children’s Foundation on Wednesday. Versace and the museum’s director Adam D. Weinberg were on hand to help the children interpret the theme of friendship onto a canvas. “A picture is a way to say something that is inside of your heart or inside of your head, that you may not be able to put into words,” Weinberg said.

Versace is providing canvases and art supplies to 500 children from the Starlight Children’s Foundation in the U.S. and 900 children from the One Foundation in China. Designs will be turned into canvas totes and sold to benefit the two organizations.