I recently came back to a wonderful article:
Aguliar, J., Bedau, D., Anthony, C. (2009) Growing emotional intelligence through community-based arts. Reclaiming Children and Youth: Art and Action, Spring 2009 Vol. 18, No. 1 (p. 3-9)
I reread it, keeping in mind my next project- developing centres for youth artisans. The youth I work with present with a variety of issues including social anxiety, behavioral challenges, learning disabilities, substance abuse and mental health. My mission is to provide the opportunity for a reparative and holding experience in a safe and creative space in which the youth can take advantage of the opportunity to make art, express self, and deal with unresolved conflicts and feelings, learn life skills and participate in sustainable enterprise. In order to provide a healthy and educational way for my students to carry their arts and craft making into the future and to earn a small income, I am now including youth art in my ETSY shop. My goal is to start a local pilot project: a youth centre where artisans make/sell crafts and continue the legacy by training future generations and opening centres of their own.
My notes when re-reading the article:
The natural environment of the centre would teach skills that allow:
• the development of self-respect
• the promotion of mutual respect
• the valuing of differences
• the increase of literacy (including computer literacy, web-site development, financial literacy)
• the appreciation of arts and crafts
• the fundamentals of emotional development and intelligence
The project will blend arts and crafts with human relations, academic developments, problem-solving, life-skills, and workplace training.
The centre will be a safe place for diverse youth to learn together and work towards independent, yet common, goals. Behavior disorders, fetal alcohol syndrome, mental health issues and the like will be embraced and supported. The skills taught are universal for a variety of ability levels. The atmosphere would be free of censorship.
The system of training and production will be sustainable, replicable- “the training that keeps on training.”
Why youth? Adolescence (even when challenged by high-risk factors due to family, community, health, foster care, education, behavioral, personality, trauma) offers an ideal context for an introduction to emotional competency. Those who have few opportunities would be provided natural means to systematically build skills around emotional intelligence.
Two areas of focus to promote SELF-EMPOWERMENT:
• cognitive development (future planning, problem solving, directing or redirecting attention, motivated and sustained persistence at challenging tasks)
• relationship development (regulations emotions, prosocial behavior, social competence, moral judgment, safe haven to make strong connections, empathy)
The youth artisans will follow their own inspirations and develop original designs, while maintaining a high level of standard as they gain international recognition through ETSY and other websites.
THE CREATION OF ART CAN FOSTER A SENSE OF BELONGING, SUCCESS AND CREATIVITY
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