Free Arts Minnesota
is a non-profit organization that brings the healing power of artistic expression to the at-risk youth of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and the surrounding areas.
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Quote reblogged from NPR Fresh Air
Happiness schmappiness.I think the pursuit of it, and our focus on it, is narcissistic. I don’t think that should be the goal in life. I think the goal in life is to have a good life — rich, fulfilled, filled with love — and have a sense that you are doing something to make the world a better place — and then happiness is a byproduct of a life well lived.
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South Africa Postcard Exchange
The idea came to me while I was cleaning my room. When my family moved to Minnesota from Italy, my good friend in Italy moved to England. We kept in touch via letters for years. As I chased the dust bunnies from under my bed, a box full of letters followed after it.
Almost a year ago, I took a three week trip through South Africa, hosted by my South African friend, Megan. They all know the intense passion I have for dance (the same passion that drew me to Free Arts) and during my last week in South Africa, they took me to see a performance by a family friend’s youth center program. That was my first encounter with Bjatladi Youth Center, in the middle of the mountains in the Limpopo Province. About a hundred children & teens performed music, traditional dances, contemporary dances and drama to remember Youth Day. It’s difficult to share such intimate and special moments when you come home from traveling. Anyone who has had significant travels will tell you, sometimes it feels as if you weren’t ever there or that the place you traveled to were all in your imagination.
I taught dance for my first lesson at FreeArts, at the end I showed clips from Youth Day. The kids were fascinated by it. I wanted to give them an opportunity to really engage in a cultural exchange. My goal is to show the children how big the world is. How many different ways there are to live a life and also, how similarly we live them. Africa can be viewed as one large country, but in the introduction to the project we talked about all of the different languages and types of people just in South Africa. One child asked more questions than I could answer. He was feverishly curious about their religion, the region, the climate (thank goodness I brought my guidebook with me!). The Bjatladi Youth Center is just as enthused, we are sending post cards and their literacy program will send back letters. I really hope we can break some stereotypes and expose both sides of the ocean’s children to the possibilities that lie in living in such a big & small world!
I am so happy the main office and our lovely Julie embraced the idea of a postcard exchange with such enthusiasm.
It’s been a joy to do this project and be able to share all of the South African passion my hosts instilled in me. I can’t wait until we get the responses back! I think the kids will be really excited and who knows, maybe someday the kids who participated in it will rediscover a box of letters under their bed too.
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Tuesday, May 22nd marks the 1st Anniversary of the horrific tornadoes that came through North Minneapolis in 2011. Free Arts Minnesota was one of the organizations that rallied at Farview Park immediately after the storm, providing healing art projects, gift bags filled with art supplies, a face painting station, and more for the children, while their parents received much-needed guidance in areas of housing, food and so on.
But we were not finished with our work. The community still needs support as they rebuild their homes, families and lives. One organization, Northpoint Health and Wellness Center, teamed up with the City of Minneapolis to provide Wellness Days for youth affected by the tornado. Free Arts Minnesota is one of the organizations chosen for outreach to children that would benefit from activities specifically designed to address children’s mental health that may have resulted from the tornados.
Free Arts Minnesota is collaborating with muralist Jeremiah Ellison and Lucy Craft Laney Elementary School to create a mural that will showcase the theme of CommUNITY Strength with the 5thgrade class . Not only are we able to partner with a great school in North Minneapolis, we have partnered with Darryl, owner of Northend Hardware in North Minneapolis, for all the supplies for this project. They have been more than helpful in their support of this project!
Photo reblogged from Twin Cities Daily Planet
We’re gettin’ stoked for our fall programming on healthy bodies and healthy minds!
Minneapolis likes to be ahead of the curve, especially when it comes to sustainability programs. Over the past couple of years, Minneapolis has created one of the country’s largest shared bike ride programs (Nice Ride), built new light rail lines and bike trails, integrated solar power and other renewable energy sources into city buildings, and worked to increase access to healthy locally grown foods for everyone.
On Monday April 2nd, Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak signed an amendment to the Minneapolis City Council’s Urban Agriculture Ordinance. Of the new provisions, one of the most interesting is the one that allows market gardeners to grow food commercially, the first time this has been legal in Minneapolis city limits since 1963. Other changes include an increase in commercial farming on a larger scale in industrial parts of the city (as well as smaller scale in residential areas), the introduction of aquaculture and aquaponics (fish farming), allowing residents to build hoop houses on their property to prolong the growing season, and fewer restrictions on composting and anaerobic digester facilities.
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Junior League of Minnesota sponsored a Free Arts Day on Saturday. Thanks to all who volunteered! We had a lot of fun!
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Who Knows if the Moon’s
who knows if the moon’s
a baloon,coming out of a keen city
in the sky—filled with pretty people?
(and if you and i should
get into it,if they
should take me and take you into their baloon,
why then
we’d go up higher with all the pretty people
than houses and steeples and clouds:
go sailing
away and away sailing into a keen
city which nobody’s ever visited,where
always
it’s
Spring and everyone’s
in love and flowers pick themselves
e. e. cummings
Photo reblogged from Art Therapy {Lite}
Chiharu Shiota, House of Imagination. (2008)
(Source: valentineuhovski)
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The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
-Rumi
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