December 20 2009
Listen: Day 42 of 50 in our Meet The Need Campaign goes to Artists Working in Education (AWE), an organization supporting artists working creatively with children to enhance human potential, advance learning, and cultivate community through their school studio and mobile truck studio programs. When we discussed the scope of this campaign, we decided to feature not only organizations that work with basic needs, but go beyond that in considering what might cause an individual to be unable to meet their own needs. This opened the door to a conversation that has included education, community, safety, healthy relationships, and a whole host of other support structures.
As we near the end of our 50 days, I feel like we arrive naturally at AWE, an organization that brings art and artists into the lives of youth. In considering what lies beyond the most basic needs, people become more than a collection of needs that are or are not met -- rather, they become a complex whole. So what does making art do for a person? How can creative expression relate to the way a person thinks and conceives of themselves?
In the following pieces, Sally gives three stories that together show how effective and engaging arts education can produce more than just a work of art:
-When you have a mobile studio like AWE, you're going to get a wide range of responses from the kids. Sally discusses those responses and ties it to a very important point -- imagination has a very important place in the basic needs picture:
-A young man with behavioral problems becomes engaged with art through the artist in his classroom:
-What can happen over the course of a week when they set up their truck studio in a park (hint -- an unlikely 4 foot long wire alligator):
To learn more about Artists Working In Education, visit their website, and if you'd like to helpAWE meet their needs this holiday season (note -- they're looking to invest in some new vehicles for their truck studio!), learn how you can help here.