Join Us for the 2013 911 Day of Arts Service

 

On Sunday September 8, from 1-5pm at 29th & Columbus Blvd. the public is invited to help to clean and revitalize the “Inside the Overpass” mural and surrounding area. The mural is located on the interior of the pedestrian overpass at 29th and Columbus, and was designed and painted by students in the Arts Brigade Mural Arts after school program. This program continues to meet every Wednesday from 3 – 6pm at TAB, 738 N 5th  Ave, in the Historic YWCA building.

The 911 day of arts service is a way to commemorate and remember the victims of that day and do something positive for our community. By coming together to beautify and unify our neighborhoods through the arts we are building a better world. This is a great event for the entire family. Participants are asked to bring gloves, work clothing, rakes, trash bags, a hat and water. We will be weeding, picking up trash and painting. At the end of the work session we will circle up to share our feelings, memories and thoughts.

The “Inside the Overpass” project represents two years of hard work by youth ages 8-18 at the Jim & Vicki Click Boys & Girls Club, which is adjacent to the overpass mural. With the help of Tucson Arts Brigade's Executive Director and Teaching Artist, Michael B. Schwartz, assistants Linda Kerr, Molly Moore, and Kathleen Murphy, the youth designed, created, and installed the works of art.
 

“Make the world a better PLACE”

By Laryssa Morales

    Tucson, Arizona is one of the oldest continually populated areas in North America (Metropolitan Tucson Convention & Visitors Bureau, 2012). For this reason, Tucson has been through a plethora of hardships. Many neighborhoods, for instance, the 29th street area includes five neighborhoods, Julia Keen, Myers, Alvernon Heights, Roberts and Naylor, which have been dishonored with graffiti, litter, and high crime rates. Tucson youth from the Jim & Vicki Click (JVC) Boys & Girls Club, which is located in on 29th and Columbus, spoke up and reached out to their local community leaders about neighborhood issues and what the people living around the clubhouse believe is important. From fall 2009 to spring of 2012, they collaborated with the Tucson Arts Brigade (TAB) to make Tucson a better place. TAB used the metaphor People, Land, Arts, Cultural, Environment (P.L.A.C.E.) which was inspired by the Tucson Pima Arts Council place campaign. 

    The first project TAB worked on in the 29th Street area was a beautiful mural “Inside the Overpass”, unveiled on May 9th, 2012. Community members from the area were educated on neighborhood history, design and how to draw by the Tucson Arts Brigade teaching artists. With this knowledge everyone came together and painted this exhilarating work of art that can be enjoyed by all of Tucson. Although this beautiful mural was a great start, the youth seek to inspire civic engagement and responsibility, not only in the 29th street neighborhoods but throughout Tucson.



    TAB came up with providing positive community-building programs that engage everyone in beautifying the places where they live and work. Over the past three years this project has involved 85 youth ages 8-17, to describe their challenges, hopes and aspirations through artistic designs. P.L.A.C.E. is a project designed to have every small voice heard. It is also a part of a citywide initiative to beautify Tucson neighborhoods while reducing graffiti and providing an alternative outlet for young artists through public art. These young artists draw pictures and write short poems describing a number of themes ranging from bullying, graffiti and littering to eating healthy and protecting our desert eco-system. 

    TAB decided to transform these small pieces of artwork into posters so the entire city of Tucson can witness all the concerns, ideas, and solutions our young generation has in beautifying and making our community a better P.L.A.C.E. These posters have been installed on the Sun Tran buses, which commute throughout the Tucson region. In addition, all of the posters have been displayed at various locations around the city, and are available for sale to raise funds for TAB’s community-driven youth art programs.

    The P.L.A.C.E. project was a successful way to send out messages from the youth of our community. It awards the youth the power to express themselves and to be heard. It gave the children the opportunity to exit a stressful life and enter a world full of art and happiness. TAB has listened to these children and has provided positive solutions to assist our youth today in becoming tomorrow’s future.

Posters can be seen below and/or ordered on our website; www.tucsonartsbrigade.org

Celebrating PLACE in Tucson : Young Artists Creating Messages of Hope, Beauty and Community

TUCSON, Ariz. - The Tucson Arts Brigade and Sun Tran in collaboration with the Jim & Vicki Click Boys & Girls Club are proud to unveil a series of posters created by Tucson youth that seek to inspire civic engagement and responsibility.

Led by Tucson Arts Brigade staff, young artists at the Jim & Vicki Click Boys & Girls Club created dozens of works of art that describe their challenges, hopes and aspirations.  The artistic design process started with youth speaking with local community leaders about neighborhood issues and what was important to people living around the clubhouse.  The youth selected a number of themes ranging from bullying, graffiti and littering to eating healthy and protecting our desert eco-system. 

Original artwork was created to address these themes and Tucson Arts Brigade staff transformed the artwork into posters. Eight posters were selected to be displayed inside the Sun Tran buses traveling throughout the Tucson region.  In addition, all of the posters will be displayed at various locations around the city, and will be available for sale to raise funds for Tucson Arts Brigade’s community-driven youth art programs.



Many of the youth helped create two TAB murals in and around the JVC Boys & Girls Club.  “These youth are now expanding their sphere of influence by going citywide”, said Michael B. Schwartz, Executive Director of the Tucson Arts Brigade.  “The PLACE Program engages youth in an artistic process immersed in community issues with the goal of turning taggers into stewards.”  All youth in the program sign a No Tagging Pledge where they commit to be leaders and caretakers of their communities.

The PLACE Project is part of the 4R Community Coalition’s multi-year efforts to improve life in the 29th Street Area. The 29th Street Area includes the five neighborhoods of Julia Keen, Myers, Alvernon Heights, Roberts and Naylor.  This area had for years been plagued with high crime rates, graffiti, and neighborhood blight, but has been much improved through community-wide collaboration and neighborhood activism.  Tucson Arts Brigade has been a part of these efforts, providing positive community-building programs that engage everyone in beautifying the places where they live and work. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson provides programs, professional staff and a safe environment to assist youth in developing self-esteem, values and skills.  The organization operates six clubhouses in Tucson serving over 8,000 youth age 7-17.




This project has been made possible by support from the Puffin Foundation, Pantano Christian Church, PRO Neighborhoods, the Tucson Pima Arts Council PLACE Initiative, and Friends of Tucson Arts Brigade.

For more information: www.TucsonArtsBrigade.org, (520) 623-2119

“INSIDE THE OVERPASS” MURAL UNVEILING

 The Tucson Arts Brigade (TAB) is proud to announce the completion of our latest project, “Inside the Overpass” at 29th Street and Columbus Blvd. The official mural unveiling is on Wednesday, May 9th, from 3:30pm to 6:30pm, and will also feature art from youth participant portfolios, speakers, featured guests, live music, food, and more. The public is encouraged to attend this free event. This mural is part of TAB’s countywide “Beautify and Unify” initiative.

This project represents two years of hard work by youth ages 8-18 at the Jim & Vicki Click Boys & Girls Club, which is adjacent to the overpass mural. With the help of Tucson Arts Brigade's Executive Director and Teaching Artist, Michael B. Schwartz, assistants Linda Kerr, Molly Moore, and Kathleen Murphy, the youth designed, created, and installed the works of art.

“In 2009 we were invited by the 29^th Street Weed and Seed Coalition (now the 4R Coalition) to help address beautification, graffiti and the need for after school youth arts programming. TAB responded to that need by establishing a Community Arts program at the JVC Boys and Girls Clubhouse. The youth in this area have proven that they will become successful leaders, business owners and caretakers of this place. They have produced an amazing body of artwork that will be enjoyed by our community for years to come. Creating a beautiful community has become a priority for youth in our program,” says Schwartz.

This site was chosen because the overpass was a favorite target for graffiti taggers of all ages. After cleaning hundreds of tags and over 80 pounds of trash and debris, the artwork was installed with the intention of preventing graffiti, beautifying the neighborhood, and helping to restore a sense of pride to the area. The participants not only learned important lessons about art, but they gained positive tools for personal expression, community cooperation, and formal permission for public projects. 

The project has proved to be successful in reducing graffiti tagging on the overpass, and throughout the adjacent neighborhoods, Julia Keen, Naylor, Roberts, Alvernon Heights and Myers that comprise the 4R Coalition.

Tucson Arts Brigade (TAB) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, participatory, service-based community arts and education organization that offers intergenerational and cross-cultural opportunities for civic engagement. TAB employs arts-based solutions to civic and social issues, including graffiti, bullying, health & wellness, and sustainable design. With measurable results through neighborhood-based murals, dance, theater, and special events, TAB is weaving community through the arts.

This project has been made possible by support from the 4R Coalition, Puffin Foundation, Pantano Christian Church, Pro-Neighborhoods and The Tucson Pima Arts Council / Kresge In Tucson.

For more information about this and other projects, please visit our web site www.TucsonArtsBrigade.orgwww.TucsonArtsBrigade.org .

Creating PLACE in East Tucson

Nicole, 10 years old "Don't Litter"

The PLACE program has resulted in the creation of dozens of works of art that will be exhibited throughout Tucson starting in May 2012. The art describes the challenges, hopes and aspirations of youth and adults in the 29^th Street area. The project is part of the 4R Neighborhood Coalition’s multi year efforts to improve life in the area. The coalition  includes five neighborhoods; Julia Keen, Myers, Alvernon Heights, Roberts and Naylor. Economic development has been a recent priority, in the past crime had been the number one concern but after nearly a decade of neighborhood activism the crime rates finally came down enough for people to take a breath. TAB was called in as part of the seeding efforts – to provide positive community building programs that engaged everyone in beautifying the places they live and work.

By Macielle, 11 years old

Our work with youth over the past few years has been informed by the concept of transformation, and we use the overpass, the site of our second mural, as a metaphor. Destination – Transformation – Portal – Arrival can be interpreted in a number of ways. We have danced and sung this idea, created artwork and poems. Perhaps the most important part of this analogy is that we ourselves are changing, and growing as a community of learners and neighborhood stewards.

Students have selected a number of themes to work on ranging from bullying, graffiti and  litter bugs to eating healthy and protecting our beautiful and unique desert eco-system. We had a number of visitors come and speak to us about neighborhood issues and what was important to people living in and around the 29^th Street area.

Macielle, 11 years old "Protect our Delicate Environment"

 

We have been working with TAB Marketing Director Jodi Netzer on transforming these artworks into posters and banners. The 11 x 17 posters will be rolled out on Suntran buses over the next year. Pat Richter, now community outreach director for Suntran, also came to visit our class to show examples of the current ads. This was nice because Pat was instrumental in running the 29^th Street Weed and Seed Coalition for years. We talked about what worked and what didn’t. It was impressive to see how visually advanced the students in our program are.

We are now making final touches on our artwork. PLACE students are going back and looking into their portfolios to finish old artworks, some are writing about their ideas, others are starting new posters. We are really excited to see these images as they transform into posters.

Stay tuned to this blog to see the final artworks, or join us May 9 for an exhibit and celebration of our work this school year.

This project has been made possible by support from the Puffin Foundation, Pantano Christian Church, Pro-Neighborhoods, The Tucson Pima Arts Council PLACE initiative funded by the Sorros and Nathan Cummings Foundations.

Save the Date! May 9, 2012

Stop Violence Start the Peace!

PLACE Image 1: "Stop Violence Start the Peace" - Paola and Jasmine

Juan - "Eye"

Marianna - "Eye"

This week continued to use the theme of repetition, and started creating a series of images revolving around our core themes.

The floor was open and we have a long list that ranges from the environment, violence, immigration, foreclosure, animal welfare, being homeless, tagging and more.

Here you can see a small sample of the works we created,  and the first in a series of PLACE images.

Over the coming weeks and months we will be developing these themes, refining our ideas and finally bringing our work to the community in some surprising ways. 

Bella - Yellow Thread

Sergio - "Peace"

We are also developing writings with these drawings. As we edit and refine these works we will be posting some really great writings by our blossoming artists.

Arreana"Happy Birthday"

Stay tuned to this blog for more great youth art and literature!