Boston Youth Arts Evaluation Project
Project Collaborators
Medicine Wheel Productions
The mission of Medicine Wheel is to enable people to gain awareness of themselves in their communities by participating in the creation of enduring, site specific public art projects in which they explore and share issues unique to their individual and collective experiences, thereby accessing the hidden world through art. The purpose of the Youth in Transitions Program is to use art to reengage youth with themselves, with community, and with the larger world, a process through which they will become positively reengaged with their lives and their futures. Youth will create individual art projects, collaborative art pieces, and public art projects that engage thousands across the city and state.
The Theater Offensive
The mission of The Theater Offensive is to form and present the diverse realities of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) lives in art so bold it breaks through personal isolation and political orthodoxy to help build an honest, progressive community. True Colors: Out Youth Theater, a community program of The Theater Offensive, was created for LGBT youth and their straight allies, ages 14-22. Each season, a diverse group of participants creates an original play based on their lives and the lives of their peers. Troupe members tour this show to schools, events, and community groups throughout New England.
ZUMIX
Empowered youth who use music to make strong, positive change in their lives, their communities, and the world–this is the mission of ZUMIX. Founded in 1991 as a direct response to an epidemic of youth violence, ZUMIX has provided safe space after school and during the summer months for young people to participate in music and arts programs so they may explore who they are and who they’d like to be. Core programs focus in one of four areas: instrumental instruction, creative technology, radio, and songwriting & performance. ZUMIX also gives youth the opportunity to bring their music and technology skills into action through live concerts, festivals, recording projects, and radio broadcasts.
Hyde Square Task Force
The mission of Hyde Square Task Force is to develop the skills of youth and their families so that they are empowered to enhance their own lives and build a strong and vibrant urban community. Ritmo en Acción dancers learn Afro-Latin and contemporary dance styles, and as they gain confidence and mastery, learn to share their skills with others and to make positive changes in their community. Dance is used to build the self-esteem and harness the creative energies of youth, who then, through dance programs, become performers and instructors to over 300 local teens and children per year. They also become cultural stewards to hundreds more through performances across the city—helping to forge a stronger, safer, and more vibrant urban community.
Raw Art Works
The mission of RAW is to ignite the desire to create and the confidence to succeed in underserved youth. RAW currently serves over 1,000 youth each year in forty groups and outreach programs. RAW offers a continuum of free programs in the arts, including an award-winning film school, single-gender groups, mentoring and leadership development programs, and summer programs. Youth strengthen their identities as artists and build the confidence and connections they need to succeed in life.
