The Agenda

by Rob Verdi

Mahatma Gandhi said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” At New Urban Arts, the after-school arts mentoring program on Westminster Street, this idea is in full bloom. On any weeknight you will find the place buzzing with creative activity. Students will be painting and drawing, writing poetry, getting advice on college applications and, of course, checking their MySpace accounts. They are also, probably without their knowledge, changing. Everything is always changing, right? Grass and hair keep growing, apartments that just a year ago rented for $1000 a month are turned into $200,000 condos, mayors are thrown in jail and new ones are elected. Those kinds of changes are inevitable, but developments within an individual are of an altogether different kind and very often don’t happen on their own. Yet, these are the kinds of changes that have been happening at New Urban Arts for the last ten years.

How do these kinds of changes occur at New Urban Arts? It starts with a bold if somewhat seemingly wide-eyed idea. A gross oversimplification would be: If young people learn to develop and incorporate a creative practice into their lives the world will be a better place, for them and for everyone. New Urban Arts seeks to build a community that encourages young people to explore their creative sides as well as build strong trusting relationships with emerging artists. It creates a safe environment for self-discovery away from the cliques at school, and is a place where high school social boundaries are stripped away and real change is allowed to happen. One student started out learning about photography, then moved to drawing and painting and later picked up a guitar and wrote some songs, one of which she performed at recent NUA public events.

At NUA, students learn by doing. Guided by their mentors, they gain insight into the processes that make up art production. The mystery is taken out of creating art, which gives them the confidence to try things they may never have tried, and helps them to see themselves in a new way. Artist-mentors are not like the teachers to which most high school students are accustomed. They do not give assignments with deadlines or surprise the students with pop quizzes. They offer a different kind of learning. Through workshops, they work with students to develop projects and plans by providing a source of encouragement and technical expertise. Each year they bring new knowledge and talent to the studio, and new programs arise as the students’ interest demands.

In a recent workshop, students were exposed to photography by making pinhole cameras, mixing the photochemistry and making prints. In another, a group of twenty students participated in a ’zine swap in which each produced a fanzine and gave a copy to each of the other students in the group. Subjects ranged from music to manga to how to find true love. Another workshop taught audio recording by learning to use Apple’s GarageBand software. Students who may have previously limited themselves to only one artistic mode, such as writing or visual arts, are given the chance to experiment with different ways of creating arts.

Participating in workshops is just one way that students learn at NUA. According to founder and executive director Tyler Denmead, one of the most significant learning experiences that students can have is teaching others. Students are offered leadership opportunities in which they head workshops for communities outside of NUA. Last year some students led a bookmaking workshop for adults, and more recently a map-making workshop. This can be an incredible opportunity for students to gain self-confidence by sharing their knowledge with others. Students that show up shy and introverted in their first year transform into confident students who apply to college, lead workshops, and create art they never thought they could create.

Much of what takes place at NUA involves learning new ways of doing things. Last year they started to document these using some of the newer technologies available for free on the Internet. For example, photos of student works are displayed on Flickr, written reflections and NUA-related news are posted on a blog site, videos are posted to YouTube and there is even a NUA profile on MySpace. Denmead says “We’re such a process-oriented place that it’s really important that we document the work that we do, that students are able to see their evolution and trace their progress.” These sites serve as an archive for student work as well as providing the transparency that allows parents, potential donors and mentors, and the public to see what takes place there.

It is also important to note that NUA is not just about helping students discover their creative potential. For emerging artists, it offers the experience of working with high school students in a non-profit setting, which can be creatively inspiring and invaluable to their development as artists and as human beings. Some mentors have gone on to work in other community arts organizations and some have even started programs similar to NUA in other parts of the country.

At NUA, community building and self discovery are not just dreamy ideas that sound good on a sociology paper or a grant application. Its work is about deliberately making ideas like these a reality. In its ten years of existence, it has created a vibrant community of around a thousand student alumni and one hundred and fifty artist-mentor alumni. These relationships that are the glue that keeps this community together—relationships between the students and their mentors, the students and their peers—and once they graduate from high school, the alumni and NUA.

Many alumni stay connected once they have moved on to college and beyond. Priscilla Carrion, who says she started making art as a kid, “drawing on the walls with [her] mother’s lipstick and making melted crayon sculptures in the summer sun,” started at NUA when she was a sophomore at Classical High School, and never left. For three years she worked in such diverse media as painting, drawing, animation, and sculpture. She is now a junior at RISD majoring in textile design, and has stayed connected by working part time as an administrative assistant at NUA. Some former students have even gone on to become artist-mentors themselves. The relationships developed here tend to be strong and positive, and once people get involved they want to stay connected. Denmead says he spends a lot of time each week on the phone or, in some way, corresponding with alumni.

NUA is creative in all areas of its work. By reaching out into the community and partnering with local small businesses and other non-profit organizations, it has found a way to save money by trading space for services. Local design company White Whale Web Services manages their website in exchange for workspace in the studio. It works with a program called College Visions, which helps students from disadvantaged backgrounds through the college application process. All seniors at NUA participate in this program. New Urban Arts shares ideas about its work through involvement with the Providence Youth Arts Collaborative, a group of arts-based youth development programs, including AS220, the Providence Black Repertory Company, Everett Dance Theatre, Providence City Arts and Community MusicWorks. Denmead explains, “The more informed and educated we are about each other’s work, the better we think we can be.”

NUA brings real change to the lives of students from some of the poorest neighborhoods in Providence. Within a safe environment in which students are encouraged to discover and explore their creative sides without fear, they gain new perspectives on themselves, and often a new confidence that they take with them when they graduate, moving on to college or careers.

To get involved with NUA or to see for yourself the kind of positive changes that occur there, attend one of its many public events held during the year or become a mentor. New mentors will be selected beginning in September.

Visit NUA’s website at http://www.newurbanarts.org for more info.