ART 180 gives young people the chance to express themselves through art, and to share their stories with others.
FASHION
PASSION
M A G A Z I N E
Mission
ART 180 creates and provides art-related programs for young people living in challenging circumstances, encouraging personal and community change through self-expression. Our group is based in Richmond, Virginia.
Our Mission
ART 180 gives young people the chance to express themselves through art, and to share their stories with others.
Our Vision
Our work with young people will turn lives and communities around 180 degrees.
Our Operating Model
ART 180 partners with other nonprofit organizations to serve youth, ages 8 to 18, living in challenging circumstances in Richmond, Virginia. We also operate an art center for teens, called Atlas, in the Downtown Arts & Culture District. Through our programs, youth discover ways they can positively engage in and influence their surroundings.
Professional artists and volunteers work with youth after school for 12-week sessions at the elementary and middle school level and 6-week sessions at the teen level. Each program grows from the needs and interests of the group of young people being served. The young artists are asked to explore crucial personal statements that reinforce their sense of identity and purpose, such as:
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What is a hero?
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What do I stand for?
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How can I make my community a better place?
Programs culminate with some kind of public presentation of artwork. These have included city billboards, exhibits at art galleries, and a compilation CD of poetry. By merging the private creative experience with a public showcase, ART 180 offers youth a safe way to talk about what matters most to them, while offering the community a compelling way to hear it.
In addition to the 6-week programs at Atlas, ART 180 staff and teen leadership council operate and manage a community gallery that showcases a rotating set of exhibitions targeting or about youth.
Our Motivation
To quote Rita Dove, former U.S. Poet Laureate, "If our children are unable to voice what they mean, no one will know how they feel. If they can't imagine a different world, they are stumbling through a darkness made all the more sinister by its lack of reference points. For a young person growing up in America's alienated neighborhoods, there can be no greater empowerment than to dare to speak from the heart-and then to discover that one is not alone in one's feelings."