Reprise VCU Faculty, Art 180 and Advocates for Richmond Youth use art to promote healing
Reprised for January 2023
Advocates for Richmond Youth (ARY) is a participatory action research team that was formed in 2014 by Dr. Alex Wagaman in the VCU School of Social Work. The team is made up of youth and young adults with lived experiences of housing instability and homelessness. Together they design and conduct research with the purpose of informing advocacy and change efforts that move us toward ending youth homelessness. Part of their efforts have included the formation of the Youth Housing Stability Coalition which brings together young adult leaders, service providers and other community stakeholders to work on broader goals. One of these goals was to create more opportunities for youth experiencing homelessness to engage in healing that promotes their health and wellbeing. The Coalition members partnered with Art 180 and artist, Oscar Keyes, to host a 2-session art healing workshop in December 2021. ARY and Art 180 have partnered several times over the years. The youth who participated in the workshop developed stop-motion films that can be seen on display….
Artists:
Anonymous
L!l’ Ar!
Nahdiyah Muhammad
Roberto Romero
Tia Smith
Justice P. Valentine