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Arts as a Resource and Tool of
Survival and Nurture
Arts resources for at-risk youth and teens, as
well as for others left at-risk from the perils of war, abuse, poverty, prison
experience, and homelessness
See Also: Art in the
Aftermath of September 11, 2001
Page Contents
At-Risk Youth Master & General
Sites
Drawing
Out the Pain - Art class is healing experience at Juvenile Detention Center
Article by Patricia Davis, Washington Post Staff Writer. The
article offers a case study of the effects of arts therapy as part of the
rehabilitation process for troubled youth.
Feral Arts
Feral Arts has developed
its own approach to community cultural development. Working in visual arts,
video and new media the organization takes a long term approach to
investigating and developing responses to key cultural issues. From 1993
to1998 Feral Arts main focus was the relationship between marginal young
people and public places. Outcomes from this body of work (videos, music,
reports, publications) were bought together in CD-rom form and analyzed in
"They Shoot Ferals Don't They?"
Geese
Theatre Company
Based in Birmingham, England, "We
use drama and theatre to encourage self-awareness and to assist individuals in
exploring the idea of change and the impact that it may have on their lives.
Within this framework we consider the complex web of connections between
personal behavior, choice and responsibility and broader social, economic and
political factors. Our theatre functions as a catalyst. Through fictional
performance we mirror situations and behaviors and model possible alternatives
as a spur to discussion and debate. In addition, through dynamic,
participatory drama techniques we facilitate the active exploration of
changing behaviors and the rehearsing of new skills and strategies. Our
groupwork practice takes a cognitive-behavioral approach and we also give
particular attention to the development of theatre techniques and metaphors,
such as masks, which give equal emphasis to behavior, thoughts and
feelings."
Inner City Youth Development
Association
Based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the Inner City Youth Development
Association is a youth service organization operating in Edmonton’s city
core. Inner City began programming as Inner City Drama in Edmonton’s in
September of 1986. The organization operated as Inner City Drama from 1986 to
1992. In 1992 the name was changed to the Inner City Youth Development
Association (Inner City). The activities of the organization had broadened
considerably from what they were in 1986. The new name reflects this growth
and the responds to the direction pointed by the youth in our programs. The
organization now includes Inner City Drama and Inner City High School.
InteractiveTheatre.Org
Uses drama to educate on issues of sexual assault. The company works to
"challenge personal and societal beliefs by creating three-dimensional
characters that can't be ignored or tuned out like videos. The situations in
the scenes are real, explicit, and disturbing". The website offers an
extensive library of contacts for similar companies throughout the country.
This page is thus a nice master-site of resources. The page
also offers articles on the value of such programs. 
An Introduction to
Playback Theatre
Devised by Orla McKeagney - An excellent step by step guide
to this important theraputic theatre form. "in Playback a member of a
group is encouraged to relate a real life experience which is then reenacted
by the others. American empirical evidence would tend to justify its
supporters claim that the experience has a therapeutic outcome as it heightens
'self awareness', enhances creativity and spontaneity, and reinforces the
individual's sense of identity."
Pentimento
Playback Theatre
This Playback theatre company is based in Albany, NY. Their
website, among other features, offers a link listing of many other such
companies around the country and the world. "Playback Theatre is a unique
style of theater in which audience members are invited to tell stories from
their lives and watch them enacted, or "played back" on the spot. A
Playback conductor helps each willing audience member tell a story---casting
actors as people, places, things, animals, feelings---whatever the story
requires. Then, without consultation, the Playback actors play the story back
using only cloth, boxes, music, and themselves. The results are often as
unexpected as they are engaging. And, not surprisingly, one person's story is
often the inspiration for
the next."
Playback Theatre Net
Playback Theatre is an original
form of improvisational theatre in which audience or group members tell
stories from their lives and watch them enacted on the spot. Whether in
theatres, workshops, educational or clinical settings, playback theatre draws
people closer as they see their common humanity. Playback Theatre was founded
in 1975 in the Mid-Hudson Valley in New York by Jonathan Fox and the original
Playback Theatre company. Since then, Playback Theatre has reached hundreds of
settings and locations. A support organization, this website provides
connection and information for Playback practitioners on five continents.
The Usual Suspects
The Usual Suspects "was
created in 1993 after the Los Angeles riots to empower young people by giving
them a voice, and to ease racial tensions. The Unusual Suspects gives the kids
an effective tool for communication by helping them to create original theatre
drawn from their lives."
Young Audiences
YA's mission involves working with education systems, the
arts community and the private and public sectors to make the arts an
essential part of all children's education.
Youth Employment
& Training
Arts
Street
Providing job training and mentoring through the arts
for Denver youth in order to develop a disciplined, creative, and culturally
competent workforce for the 21st Century. The Arts Street Program is an
asset-based youth employment program that nurtures adolescents by showing
youth how to turn “doing what they love” into a successful career. The
website, produced by project participants, includes a gallery of art.
Carclew
Youth Arts Centre in South Australia
The Carclew Youth Arts Centre is a unique youth arts
organization which provides young people with the resources and opportunities
to develop as successful and innovative artists and arts workers. The
Centre serves as a dynamic breeding ground for the ideas, energy and
enthusiasm of South Australia’s young artists aged 5-26 years. Attractive
site with modest content.
The Manchester
Craftsmen's Guild in Pittsburgh, PA
The Mission of 's Arts Education Program is to create experiences for
inner-city youth that build character and skills in personal, inter-personal,
technical and artistic realms. Through mentored relationships with artists,
educators, and counselors, young people prepare for their futures through
creative inquiry and reflection, participating in activities that stress
application of the arts in the community, experiential learning and higher
education
The Arts Providing Skills &
Strength for Survival
CLIMB
Theatre
An educational touring
company based in Minneapolis that has been in existence for 20 years. CLIMB
produces original plays and classes for K-12th grade on topics such as:
Violence Prevention, Substance Abuse and Addiction, Sexual Harassment,
Environment, Diversity, and
Gender. This is a very well organized, informative website.
DAREarts Online
Dare believes in "using the arts to empower ordinary children to be
extraordinary & [to] lead their peers." DAREarts, is a Canadian-based
not-for-profit organization, composed of community leaders, artists and
educators who want to provide Discipline, Action & Responsibility in
Education through an outreach program that provides young people with
self-discipline and leadership skills as positive alternatives to crime and
drugs.
Drawing
Out the Pain - Art class is healing experience at Juvenile Detention Center
Article by Patricia Davis, Washington Post
Staff Writer. The article offers a case study of the effects of arts therapy
as part of the rehabilitation process for troubled youth.
Geese
Theatre Company Restorative Drama Therapy In Criminal Justice And Prisons
Schools Conventions
Geese Theatre Company, based in San Francisco, provides arts
based restorative justice projects. The first one began in January 1997 with a
production created and acted by members of the Milestones Halfway House and
with input from victims and members of the community. The page
offers a nice bibliography of Drama Therapy books and resources such as the
interesting "Diary of a Drama Therapist".
HealthWorks Theatre
Based in Chicago, HealthWorks Theatre was established by a group of
actors, songwriters and friends to bring a new vitality to AIDS prevention
education in the Midwest. Since its founding, the theatre company
has expanded to address issues related to violence prevention and has
reached more than 350,000 people in 16 states with its plays, facilitated
discussions, and messages of compassion and hope.
KEY Players (Keep Empowering
Youth)
A professional touring children's theatre company based in Catawba, North
Carolina. KEY practices Instructive Theatre to teach social skills.
KEY’s professional adult actors perform a repertoire of issue-oriented plays
and workshops about such topics as; violence prevention, stranger safety,
recycling, sexual harassment, gender equity in career choices, diversity,
respect, self-esteem and character education. One great feature of this
website, is the explicit review of how their productions address educational
standards in North Carolina. This feature should be incorporated into the
websites of all similar organizations!
Performing
Playwrights
Performing Playwrights is a child-centered project which addresses major
components of the language arts curriculum by empowering students to write,
perform, and produce their own play. The children study the writing process,
elements of fiction, read plays throughout the year, and attend performances
with an awareness that they will eventually write their own class play. The
class gathers to discuss the structure necessary to write a play and to review
the important components of a fictitious play. The children brainstorm a list
of possible problems, solutions, and characters around which the play can be
written.
Stopgap Theatre
Based in Santa Ana, California, Stopgap Theatre's programs
include: a touring/workshop component to the schools emphasizing the use of
intervention techniques, ongoing drama therapy groups with the aging, battered
women, substance abusers, children in hospitals, etc., and a training program
to teach other people how to use this method They are always undertaking new
initiatives to help heal their community. This is an excellent website with a
lot of useful information.
Survivors Art Foundation
Dedicated to encourage healing through the arts, Survivors Art Foundation
is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization committed to empowering
Trauma-Survivors with Effective Expressive Outlets via Internet Art Gallery,
Outreach Programs, National Exhibitions, Publications and Development of
Employment Skills.
Survivors Artist
Index
This page offers a collection of the work of about a score of artists
Surviving Abuse
Child
Abuse Quilts: Revealing and Healing The Pain of Child Abuse
These quilts were made by subscribers to the QuiltArt mailing list and
other on-line quilters, from April to October 1998. A call was issued to
QuiltArt for quilts dealing with the subject of child abuse, child abuse
prevention and violence against children. About fifty people responded to that
call. Some of those responding knew the pain of abuse first hand. Others knew
it through the eyes of others, often close family members. Some knew of it
from the headlines. No matter the experience, a need existed to make a
statement. This is a great web resource. Nice gallery with excellent artwork.
Simple and well organized, with nice documentation of each piece.
Free Arts for Abused
Children
A California-Based (with affiliates in 6 other states) non-profit
organization that integrates the healing and therapeutic power of the arts
into the lives of children and youth who have been abused or families who
are designated as “at risk.” Free Arts for Abused Children recruits, trains,
and places volunteers to work hands-on with victims of abuse. Dance, drama,
writing, music, painting and other avenues of creativity encourage children
to channel emotions, release anger, and develop positive methods of
communication. Artistic expression builds confidence and self-esteem. The
philosophy behind all Free Arts for Abused Children programs is simply that,
“Art Heals.” This is a nice website which profiles the many different
programs in the project.
Lehigh
Valley Healing the Children Project
Marian Johnson has been working with inner-city youth in
various locations in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding communities through
Talbot Hall Funding, a grant program of the Bethlehem Diocese of the Episcopal
Church. Expressive arts are utilized to assist the inner development of each
child. The inherent value of each child was addressed and encouraged, so that
each person develops more self-esteem and understanding of their life's
purpose.
Surviving the Holocaust
A Cybrary of the Holocaust
The Cybrary of the Holocaust uses art, discussion groups, photos, poems,
and a wealth of facts to preserve powerful memories and to educate scholars
and newcomers alike about the Holocaust. The Cybrary is organized into 2
sections: Research, areas where you can explore the issues of the Holocaust,
and Forums, where discussion and ongoing feedback is held. Listen to Survivors
through books including Abe's Story, The Last Sunrise, Jan Karski, and Courage
Under Siege, about the Warsaw Ghetto, among many books with extensive excerpts
and photos available online. Read The Stories of Survivors, Liberators, and
others who were involved in the Holocaust.
Gyorgy
Kadar Survivor of Death Witness to Life
This exhibition presents a group of works by Hungarian artist and Holocaust
survivor Gyorgy Kadar. These dramatic images document his stay in five
concentration camps during World War II. Not exhibited as whole since
1947, the works were purchased and restored by Vanderbilt and exhibited at the
University for the first time in the fall of 1988.
Survivors of the Shoah Visual
History Foundation
In 1994, after filming Schindler’s List, Steven Spielberg established
Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation with an urgent mission: to
chronicle, before it was too late, the firsthand accounts of survivors,
liberators, rescuers, and other eyewitnesses of the Holocaust. Recording more
than 50,000 unedited testimonies, the largest undertaking of its kind, the
Shoah Foundation launched its mission to create a multimedia Archive to be
used as an educational and research tool.
Art of the
Ghettos and Camps of Nazi Germany
This is a very informative site. Rich in resources and links
The
So-Called Degenerate Art of Nazi Germany
The years 1927-37 were critical for artists in Germany. In 1927, the
National Socialist Society for German Culture was formed. The aim of this
organization was to halt the "corruption of art" and inform the
people about the relationship between race and art. By 1933, the terms
"Jewish," "Degenerate," and "Bolshevik" were in
common use to describe almost all modern art.
Survivors of Other Wars
War
Child Bulletin 4
This short article documents a project
to use the arts as a healing force in a war-torn region of the world. After
you read the article, trace the link back to the index of articles where you
will find some more articles on similar projects.
War
Child Artists
As you read this, over 30 wars and
conflicts rage around the world. Some fill our TV screens with appalling
images of distress, emphasizing war. On this page you will find information
about the many artists who have donated their time in support of this project.
Also featured are numerous galleries of artwork produced by the children of
war-torn areas or from people documenting their plight.
The Journey of Individual Artists
The Art of Judy
Castelli
Art gallery of work by artist, Judy Castelli, a survivor of child abuse and
mental illness. Very nice artwork.
Art and Urban Youth
SEE ALSO: [GRAFFITI
ART]
Artstart
ArtStart is a biannual spring event in New
South Wales, Australia. It provides the opportunity for young people to
develop skills through participating in arts and cultural projects as well as
performing and exhibiting their work to other young people in the wider
community.
Bad Dog
Art Mentoring Project For Urban Kids
This Salt Lake City, Utah based organization is dedicated to
mentoring urban children 5-18 years old in arts and technology while
providing role models of artists successful in their field. The website
includes a gallery of work by the participants in the program.
Chronic
Poetry
Magazine created by the students in Mike James'
and Megan Wolf's fourth period Poetry Class at ABCD University High School in
Boston. This is a very nice and content
rich website.
Do It Your Damn Self!! -
National Youth Video and Film Festival
"The DIYDS!! festival was created in 1996 by inner-city youth in
Cambridge, Massachusetts. We realized that if you want something done,
"you gotta do it your damn self." So the mission of our festival
was, is, and always will be to give youth producers like us a place to be
heard. "
EnAct
(Educational Network of Artists in Creative
Theatre)
A nonprofit company based in New York City. The
organization offers theatre-in-education and drama therapy training
among their many programs. ENACT's mission
is to use interactive drama and conflict resolution techniques to facilitate
personal growth, effective communication and behavioral and attitudinal
change.
Inner-City Arts
INNER-CITY ARTS is a non-profit art school for children and teenagers.
Located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, Inner-City Arts serves about 450
inner-city children each week day during the regular school day with classes
in visual arts, animation, ceramics, music, dance, drama and language
arts.
Kaleidoscope Arts
Boston, MA - A program providing an affordable
way for Boston's teens to discover the performing arts! The Kaleidoscope Youth
Arts Program seeks to foster an understanding of and appreciation for the
performing arts among teenagers in metropolitan Boston, with the expectation
that arts will continue to play an important role in their adult lives. The
site includes a forum where teenagers interested in the performing arts can
share thoughts, ideas, news, reviews, and announcements.
Lehigh
Valley Healing the Children Project
Marian Johnson has been working with inner-city youth in
various locations in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding communities through
Talbot Hall Funding, a grant program of the Bethlehem Diocese of the Episcopal
Church. Expressive arts are utilized to assist the inner development of each
child. The inherent value of each child was addressed and encouraged, so that
each person develops more self-esteem and understanding of their life's
purpose.
National Dance Institute
National Dance Institute was founded in the belief that the arts have a
unique power to engage children and motivate them toward excellence. Each
year, the programs of NDI inspire thousands of children, reaching across
social, ethnic, and economic boundaries and including children facing physical
and emotional challenges. Using professional artists and a distinctive
combination of dance classes, performances, and educational materials, NDI
fosters a love of the arts, a pride of achievement, and a curiosity about the
world in all the children that it touches. Children develop discipline, a
standard of excellence, and a belief in themselves that will carry over into
all aspects of their lives. Excellent program founded by Jacques D'Amboise.
The website does offer an overview and basic information as well as some
information on affiliate programs. It would be great though if the website
also included more photos and information on the program's methodology.
National Urban Technology
Center Home Page
Nonprofit corporation dedicated to preparing inner-city communities across
the country for full participation in the information age. We help communities
create a technology and telecommunications infrastructure. The website
includes a gallery of digital artwork.
Through the Eyes of
a Child
A dozen children representing a vast array of
New York's neighborhoods and ethnic communities, work under the tutelage of a
dozen professional artists and photographers, and over a period of several
weekends, they learn basic skills of photography and examine how an artist
views the world. Working in their own neighborhoods, the children look through
the lens of the camera (perhaps for the first time) at the life that surrounds
them each day. 6 photos from each child were selected for simultaneous
exhibition on the internet and at the Elga Wimmer Gallery in Soho, New York
Theraputic
SOULSPEAK
"Therapeutic SOULSPEAK for at-risk children gives children a way to
easily express unresolved conflicts and fears. It helps break down the
increasing isolation of children, an isolation that often leads to the type of
violence seen recently in our nation's schools."
Therapeutic SOULSPEAK taps into the unconscious almost effortlessly and is
both healing and cathartic. It is a non-traumatic process that uses the oldest
form of poetry, an oral, story-telling poetry, to allow children to easily
express their deepest feelings. It is also a poetry that young people find
instantly appealing. It is performed in antiphonal fashion (speaker-responder)
to slow music, and is learned almost instantaneously by anyone, even slow
learners. No previous knowledge of poetry, or even reading and writing is
required. Our experience has shown that a large number of children continue to
use SOULSPEAK on their own and even teach it to their parents."
Urban
Desires Tunnel Art
Online Gallery of the work of numerous urban photographers,
poets, and other visual artists.
Arts and Prison
Populations
Cellblock
Visions; Prison Art in America
A book by by: Kornfeld, Phyllis Hardcover - Link to the Barnes and
Noble book site. "Phyllis Kornfeld has spent 18 years as an art
facilitator at various prisons. In Cellblock Visions, she looks at the art of
prisoners through text and 42 color and 47 b&w illustrations. Some
prisoners created pictures of the heavy-metal record-jacket variety; others
offer bleak reflections on past life, tender portraits of loved ones or
tormented visions of their plight."
Geese
Theatre Company (has programs for youth on probation)
Based in Birmingham, England, "We
use drama and theatre to encourage self-awareness and to assist individuals in
exploring the idea of change and the impact that it may have on their lives.
Within this framework we consider the complex web of connections between
personal behavior, choice and responsibility and broader social, economic and
political factors. Our theatre functions as a catalyst. Through fictional
performance we mirror situations and behaviors and model possible alternatives
as a spur to discussion and debate. In addition, through dynamic,
participatory drama techniques we facilitate the active exploration of
changing behaviors and the rehearsing of new skills and strategies. Our
groupwork practice takes a cognitive-behavioral approach and we also give
particular attention to the development of theatre techniques and metaphors,
such as masks, which give equal emphasis to behavior, thoughts and
feelings."
In
the Belly of the Beast; Letters from Prison by: Abbott, Jack Henry
Link to the Barnes and Noble book site. "A visionary book in the
repertoire of prison literature. This is a 37-year-old man's account of 25
years behind bars."
The Poems of Robert R. Reldan
"Robert R. Reldan is an inmate at the New Jersey State Prison in
Trenton, NJ. Robert states that his poetry is one of the few ways he is
able to deal with the madness of prison life."
Prison
Art of Anthony Papa
When "Anthony Papa was convicted of a first-time, non-violent drug
possession charge in 1985 under the tough anti-drug laws signed by Governor
Rockefeller which left the judge no choice but to impose a harsh prison
sentence of 15 Years to Life. At the time, Papa, married with one daughter,
had been running a radio repair shop in the Bronx when a bowling partner
offered him $500 to deliver an envelope containing 4 and a half ounces of
cocaine. Papa agreed--and walked into a police sting operation. Papa spent the
next 12 years behind bars at Sing Sing prison. During that time, he earned
degrees in behavioral science, theology and paralegal studies. He also learned
to paint." This website offers an excellent gallery of artwork, all with
thumbnail images. Mr. Papa is available for lectures.
The prison photography
and writings of Chris Cozzone
The photos and writings in this website have come from New York and
New Mexico. Chris Cozzone's work has appeared in Penthouse, Gallery, New
Age Journal, Prison Life magazine, Utne Reader, The New York Times and several
other magazines, newspapers and books round the country. His photos have also
been published in CD-Rom collections, textbooks and on book jackets.
TATTOOS
- Recognition and Interpretation - by Sergeant Ken Whitley:
" Tats, Tacs or Ink, whatever slang term you use to describe tattoos
there’s one thing you can’t get around. Tattoo recognition and
interpretation is a valuable tool when dealing with state prison parolees. A
convict’s ink will tell you three sweet pieces of info about him. Who he is,
what he’s done and where he’s been." This is a very dark (in content)
website. It explains and explores the gritty culture of tattoo art in prison.
While the site does not show art as a force for rehabilitation, the site
nevertheless does seem to demonstrate how central the arts are to the soul and
psyche of every human individual and group.
Arts and the Homeless
Drawbridge:
An Arts Program for Homeless Children
"Giving homeless children the opportunity to speak the
unspeakable truths about their experience through art." DrawBridge
is an expressive arts program for homeless children in the San Francisco area.
The website offers an online gallery as well as many resources to help us
understand issues of homelessness. Well organized.
Inner City Press Arts
& Culture - Bronx, NY
"Our communities are not only problems; our lives are not only social
struggle. What is most important in life is creation. Not only of art, but of
connections with others. From its inception in 1987 in the Bronx, Inner City
Press has addressed not only the problems of redlining, discrimination and
homelessness, but also the problems, and the joys, of living and love and
perception, of the search for meaning or the honest description of its
lack."
Arts Health and Quality of Life
see also: Arts in Hospitals and
Medical Settings
This page profiles a one-person show written and performed by Lyle Victor
Albert at The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The site includes
various versions of performance video clips. "For Vic, the seemingly
simple act of shaving becomes a turning point in accepting his cerebral palsy
and pushing himself and his physical abilities. The challenge of shaving
propels Vic to explore growing pains common to teenagers: parents, high
school, and decisions about life after high school."
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