The Boundless Arts / Art for Global Justice Connection
Art for Global Justice was run by a group of awesome women, with a shared vision of a world that encourages creativity and self-exploration as a vehicle for growth and acceptance. As Art for Global Justice has officially transitioned into a different capacity as a part of Boundless City, my main thoughts and reflections keep returning to this once-in-a-lifetime team. Each of these incredible individuals helped to shape the organisation into what it was, and created the foundation for what today is Boundless Arts.
For those of you who don’t know, Art for Global Justice facilitated art exhibits and workshops for youth in New York, Ghana, Guatemala, and South Africa. Most of these programs were in urban settings, and they have thus been absorbed into Boundless City’s work through the Boundless Arts component, which aims to motivate urban youth to be active participants in their environments.
Back to those ladies though… Yep, they were pretty great. When AfGJ started, all of us were idealistic students with the energy and vision to build some fantastic programs. As we each graduated and moved into our various fields, the womanpower behind AfGJ diminished a bit, but the core values and vision remained. So this post is dedicated to all of them, and highlights their amazing work. Check them out:
Brenda: Finding her passion for education through teaching our programs in Washington Heights, Ghana, and Guatemala, Brenda moved forward from AfGJ to become a bilingual Kindergarten teacher. She begins a new position in her home country, in Panajachel, Guatemala, in August, where you will soon find more Boundless Arts collaborations!
Whitney: Whitney helped with pretty much everything from event management to structuring our lesson plans to video editing. She taught me the value in social media, and is probably the catalyst for these weekly blog posts and Boundless City’s facebook and twitter accounts. She now works at Summer Search, continuing to promote opportunities for youth.
Jess: Jess could go from organising BEAUTIFUL poetry slams to carrying giant bolts of black fabric alone via the subway from Midtown Manhattan to Queens. I miss sharing inspired conversations and visions for our future work with her. Currently the Development Manager at 651 Arts, she is also one of my favourite writers, you can check her out at Zora Magazine.
Jessie: Gosh, I met Jessie and she loved our vision, and I think a few weeks later, she was drilling holes into walls for an exhibit, and then running our next beautiful Meet Me Here exhibit. She’s currently working in film and television production at Cineflix, and I can guarantee she’s their favourite employee.
Molly: Our fearless web manager taught me the basics of html and kept us alive on the web, and in humour. Currently studying Engineering and working on Wall Street in Java programming (in heels! Anyone that knows Molly is gonna say whaaaaaat?)
Jee: In addition to helping with design and creating a promotional video, Jee gave me much needed reality checks, and was not afraid to tell me that our business model lacked direction. While I resisted it, she was totally right. Check out her blunt and beautiful insight at The Jay Bird.
Sarah: A part of the original program inspiring for Art for Global Justice, Sarah was my partner in running literacy and art programs with Global Goodness in Ghana wayyy back in 2009. She is currently sharing her loving energy with The Garden School Foundation.
Miranda: I will never forget swimming in the ocean at Busua Beach in Ghana with Miranda and coming up with the solid Art for Global Justice vision, and realising where this could all go. She helped me believe in the potential, and is building on her potential by earning at Masters in Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis.
I am so grateful to have had each of them in my life, and look forward to sharing more of their amazing work.
Happy Wednesday,
Alex