Community Partner : Jubilee Arts Intern : Jimmy Li Site Supervisor : Nora Howell
What is the Jubilee Arts ? Jubilee Arts is a community program providing arts classes to the residents of the Sandtown-Winchester , Upton , and surrounding neighborhoods in Baltimore .
" How and why do you communicate with people ? My internship at Jubilee Arts has given me a wide range of experiences that deal with this very question .
Jubilee Arts runs a summer program called Art @ Work , which hires youth to work with lead artists to paint community designed murals . It has an explicit goal of exposing youth to employment opportunities in the arts , empowering youth to improve their community organizing and job skills , and creating engagement between artists , youth , and the community . It ' s a huge mission , and it ' s an ideal that deals fundamentally with the question of communication .
First of all , a community is large . How do you organize an entire neighborhood to get their input on a mural and to get everyone excited about the project ? We did it through street interviews , community presentations , and an ending community celebration , and it was an incredible learning experience to see just how varied people ' s viewpoints on their community were . We got responses ranging from people who absolutely hated the crime and the drugs in the community , to people who saw opportunities for the community to grow and to brighten .
Second of all , how do you communicate with difficult people ? We had everything from community elders heckling us to youth who didn ' t want to spend any time working . It ' s a difficult task , but what I ' ve found so far is that it takes a willingness to reach out again and again , through different methods . It ' s not something that can happen in an instant .
Looking even more broadly , how you communicate comes in more ways than just speaking to another person . As I worked on the handbook trying to codify everything that Art @ Work is , I struggled with the problem of communicating a vision , an ideal . How do you communicate to someone else your vision for what a program needs ? How does a potential property owner or funder change the way you communicate that vision to others ? Communication is incredibly difficult , and something that I ' ve learned I have to consider time and time again . This internship has been an incredibly valuable in-depth study on the process of working with people ." -Jimmy
• Created a handbook of operations codifying Art @ Work ' s program operations , mission , vision , and values
• Assisted lead artist and artist intern in mural design , mural painting , and youth leadership
• Created a website for Jubilee Arts ' sister organization Strength 2 Love II
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