[DAC] FW: Press Release: Adolescent Girls from Roxbury and Dorchester Paint Mural Expressing Strength, Resilience, and Hope

[Joyce Linehan]

  _____  

From: Tova Speter [mailto:tspeter at theartconnection.org] 
Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 11:03 AM
To: info at thedac.org
Subject: Press Release: Adolescent Girls from Roxbury and Dorchester Paint
Mural Expressing Strength, Resilience, and Hope
Tova Speter
Program Manager
The Art Connection
tspeter at theartconnection.org
(617) 338-7668 


 
 

	
		 
 

The ArtConnection, Inc.
539 TremontStreet
Boston,MA 02116
Tel (617)338-7668
Fax (617)451-2884
www.theartconnection.org
info at theartconnection.org

 
 
 
 
Attention Local and Arts Writers                             Contact: Tova
Speter
For Immediate Release: June 13, 2006                    Phone: 617-338-7668
 
Email: tspeter at theartconnection.org
 
Media Event: June 21, 2006 4:30-6:30 pm
 
Adolescent Girls from Roxbury and Dorchester Paint Mural Expressing
Strength, Resilience, and Hope
Mural dedication ceremony and celebration: Wednesday, June 21, 2006.
 
            Roxbury Youthworks' Still We Rise building, a program of  the
nonprofit organization that is dedicated to providing gender specific
services to DYS and DSS involved adolescent females, is now the home of a
mural designed and painted by the girls themselves and inspired by May
Angelou's poem, "Still I Rise." Local artists Tova Speter and Anyahlee
Suderman worked with the girls for six weeks as part of the "Engaging
Communities" Mural Project.  
            This mural is the second of three funded in part by a grant from
the Fund for the Arts, a restricted fund of the New England Foundation for
the Arts, and a joint venture with The Art Connection, a non-profit
dedicated to making the arts more accessible to community organizations. 
            The process involved a "Community Input Event" in which all
community members were invited for a large brainstorming session to generate
possible themes and concepts for the mural. In this way the project engaged
the organization and its community in the collaborative artistic process,
and the teen mural painters were then able to work together to condense the
ideas generated at the Community Input Event into a cohesive mural concept.
All involved became a part of the design process and contributed their
drawings, research, and opinions to the project.
            The active participation of DYS and DSS involved females allowed
for development of self esteem, pride, and empowerment as they were able to
express themselves through art with an end result that will be enjoyed by
all those walking or driving down Blue Hill Ave. Girls with little painting
experience were given direction, taught basic painting techniques, and
encouraged to share their strengths and styles. 
            The completed mural, "Still We Rise," will be celebrated at a
Community Mural Dedication and Art Tour on June 21, from 4:30-6:30 pm along
with 25 works of art by 13 artists who have generously donated work for
permanent placement at the Female Focus Initiative through The Art
Connection's art donation and placement program. Teen muralists and artists
will be in attendance. Reporters are encouraged to attend the event on
Wednesday, June 21 from 4:30-6:30 pm. Roxbury Youthworks is located at: 321
Blue Hill Ave, Dorchester, MA 02121. 
            The Art Connection builds connections between artists and their
communities by bringing art to community organizations - clinics, youth and
senior service programs, job training centers, shelters and residential
programs, and more. The Art Connection identifies artists willing to donate
their work, catalogs the works for presentation to prospective recipients,
helps agencies access the appropriate work, and teaches them to care for the
art. These works of art are then the permanent property of the
organizations. In their new environments, art stimulates dialogue,
creativity, learning and healing. This simple but powerful idea has impacted
the lives of thousands in Greater Boston, giving those who often have the
least access to art direct experience in their own communities.
www.theartconnection.org <http://www.theartconnection.org/> .
 
 
 
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