YOUTH ARTS PROGRAMS
By providing healing environments for collaboration and artistic expression, we increase understanding and safety and foster positive systems change in our communities. Our programs are rooted in a culturally relevant + trauma-informed arts model and we integrate methodologies from Eco-Art Therapy, Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy, and mindfulness practices.
The goals of this program is to create more value for art and healing-centered experiences in our communities, and for people to experience their natural creative capacity for solution-making, activating hope, and peacebuilding.
The culmination of Story Quilt is the creation of an expansive nine-foot art quilt by all participants that expresses their collective perspective on, and solutions to, an identified need or set of needs in their community.
The quilt will become a living creation, carrying the stories of those who created it and growing with manaʻo as it travels between community groups. Youth will take leadership and engage with the community to foster collaboration and spark imaginative solution-making, and will continue to meet as a cohort to process and discuss findings.
Our programs are designed to address Hawai‘i’s severe lack of arts programming opportunities and priority is given to youth who will benefit from a trauma-informed program exploring the connections between art making, cultural identity, and relationship to the environment.
We serve a youth cohort from Koʻolaupoko. Participants learn to translate cultural and personal storytelling through the arts, find a deeper mind-body experience that fosters interconnection and increases understanding and safety. The therapeutic benefits of expressive arts for improving mental health, problem solving, and academic success are unparalleled and especially impactful for youth who have experienced adverse challenges.. We are excited to support our hui ʻōpio as they develop their creative skills and tools to support their well being.
We strive to provide the following benefits with our youth art programs:
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Increased understanding of personal + collective purpose and kuleana in bringing change to their communities
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Tools to support mental and emotional health
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Improved ability to solve problems collaboratively and make decisions responsibly
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Increased understanding of natural systems thinking processes
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Improved relationships with ʻohana, peers, and community
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Ability to use creative processes to spark community engagement
We explore and learn:
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Stenciling
Creative Writing
Textile Design
Sewing
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Fabric Dyeing
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