By Yvette Zarod Hermann | Arts Outreach Educator
Thanks to generous supporters like you, ArtForce Iowa has been able to maintain contact with the children and youth we serve, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We were worried we would lose touch with young people, but individual donations have allowed us to stay in touch in a loving and meaningful way: care packages!
The children and youth we serve have become comfortable with weekly check-ins from us. We are happy to hear how they are doing and to refresh supplies before they run out. On Sept 2, we started our weekly workshops via Google Meet, and share our "highs" and "lows" and what projects we are working on. Some youth artists have even been brave enough to create art to sell! Check out www.artforceiowashop.com
One young person told us:
"Art is a way of expressing yourself, having access to the materials and someone there to encourage and push you. When I sew it makes me happy."
Another artist told us why she liked experimenting with visual art:
"I like that art can be anything and how you can use art to help you express yourself, your feelings, or to help you cope with things. Also art makes everything more fun, you could create anything, make something more magical and make things less dull."
Another youth reported:
"My favorite thing about art is how expressive it is, there are so many different arts ArtForce Iowa caters to, that finding your ‘thing’ in art is just through experiments and different projects, whether it be dance, poetry, singing, drawing, painting, spray painting, exercise. Not only are you nurturing how you take care of yourself but you’re exploring different ways you can do that by incorporating art."
We are so proud to hear that young people are embracing their identities as artists and naming art as a coping skill!
So far ArtForce Iowa has delivered 150 care packages in central Iowa with both art supplies and food. We are expanding with each new donation to reach more youth in need throughout the state... with love, kindness and art!
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