Youth Dreamers
2008 - 2010
I was the community artist-in-residence from 2008 - 2010 with the Youth Dreamers, a non-profit organization that provides a unique safe haven with opportunities for youth to accomplish personal goals, develop leadership potential, and participate in improving their communities. I facilitated an after school community arts program, which constituted an important part of the Youth Dreamers. Community arts offered a place for youth to have voice, explore their identities and discover how they are affected by and affect the world around them. Students gained art-making skills, confidence, experience problem solving, speaking to the public, and working as a group. During the 2009/10 school year, students participated in workshops with visiting artists, field trips to museums, facilitated a public project at the Walters Art Museum, planned an art installation at the Wide Angle Youth Media Festival, fostered a partnership with a MICA graphic design program and had collaborative piece of artwork we created exhibited at Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Staten Island, New York. I had the wonderful opportunity of working with many of the same students over the two years I was with Youth Dreamers and was able to observe their growth in that time. The students were enthusiastic about the things that we did, and also made connections to each other and the greater Baltimore community through the program.
