|
The Ascent :: Art from Ashes
Youth empowerment through creative expression,
connection and transformation
|
|
|
 For more than a decade, Art from Ashes has used image, metaphor and story to empower struggling youth. During those 10 years, more than 7,000 youth have participated in AfA's Phoenix Rising program. Although we're sometimes perceived as a poetry organization, in fact, we are a youth empowerment organization that facilitates expression, connection and transformation through art and creativity--starting with the transformative power of language. By providing access to the arts and access to the inherent creative genius in the youth we serve, we facilitate a change in self-perception and a renewed sense of hope for those who've been victimized by negative experiences and circumstances. Phoenix Rising is the foundational program of Art from Ashes, and because the power of words and story is integral to personal transformation, we will always promote our poetry process. In addition to poetry, this year our newsletters also will highlight two other programs currently in development: The Drawing on Air youth empowerment through visual arts program and the Casting Shadows youth empowerment through creative play program. |
|
So many thanks to a community that cares!
Without our supporters, we would be unable to do the work to which we are called. Here is a list of some of those benefactors. Each newsletter, we'll feature others who have provided sponsorships, grants, fundraisers or donations on behalf of the struggling young people in our community.
 Thank you to Sue Anschutz and the Anschutz Family Foundation for providing much-needed operating funds. The foundation recognizes that without an office, staff and basic things like internet and phone, we could never reach the youth we help. We are so grateful for the 2013/2014 grant suppoort!
| |
|
 | | Musician Steef Sealy and AfA's Kate Cash at the June concert fundraiser |
Many thanks to Steef Sealy, who blessed us with a birthday concert that also served as a fundraiser for Art from Ashes! Thanks to Steef and his [many] friends' generosity, we received a $1,331 donation!
 Many thanks to Tommy and Andrew at Fleur Salon for the Words & Wine event during poetry month!
We had a wonderful time and our youth poets inspired the crowd to write their own poems in three minutes! Tommy, Andrew and all the staff at Fleur Salon are dedicated to community support, and we're grateful they chose Art from Ashes to launch their salon! If you or your business wish to gather friends and family for a Words & Wine mini-WORDshop with a performance by a youth poet, contact Catherine at cait@artfromashes.org for details!
Thank you to Applewood's Caring Community Giveaway for awarding Art from Ashes a $1000 grant! (and by the way, our 3-year volunteer/facilitator Aimee Guertz is a manager there, so you should def call Applewood for your plumbing, heating, electrical, etc. needs!)
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Upcoming Workshops and Events
| |
|
DROP-IN WORKSHOPS EVERY TUESDAY NIGHT FROM 5 TO 7 PM
Each week Art from Ashes holds youth drop-in workshops for any young person 12 to 24 years old at the McNichols building in Civic Center Park. Thank you to Denver Arts & Venues for the space! Any business or individual willing to support one month of workshops for $1500, please contact us. We'd be happy to share your generosity with the struggling youth in our community, as well as with the media. :-)
For a list of our current contracts with youth serving schools and organizations, please click here... To support a contract with an organization of your choise, please contact Jessica Fitzgerald, Director of Programs jessica@artfromashes.org
RUNNING OF THE GAYS AGAIN!
On September 11, we'll kick up our heels and run for the youth of Rainbow Alley. For the fifth year, Art from Ashes and Rainbow Alley will partner with the gay community to raise funds to provide creative programs for LGBTQ youth. Click here to sign up to run or go directly to this link to support the run!
Check out our ROTG Facebook page for more information and photos of previous years' event.
BASEBALL, FIREWORKS, YOUTH AND COMMUNITY
As a fundraiser for AfA and community event for the youth we serve, we are selling 100 Rockies tickets for the Fan Appreciation Game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday, September 19th. We have guaranteed seats in Section 149--foul ball territory!--that also allow us to ENJOY FIREWORKS FROM THE FIELD. Purchase your $39 ticket from us (no markup), and we get $16 of that amount as a donation.
Some of our young people have never attended a baseball game. Please consider purchasing a ticket for a young person, even if you can't make it. For more information or to purchase tickets, click here.
|
|
|
|
|
Interview with AfA Guest Artist Van Ness
| |
|
AfA: How did you get involved in poetry/spoken word and the creative use of language?
Connor: Well, things were pretty bad for me. To be honest, they were awful. I was depressed, struggling with addiction, and in and out of jail. One night I had a vivid dream. In this dream I was standing on a riverbank and there was an elephant standing next to me. On the opposite shore there was everything I ever wanted - stability, peace, a job, a family. The river was wide, and it was rough, and I couldn't get across by myself, so I asked the elephant to help me. The next day I had a court date, and I knew that the court date could go either way. So instead of turning and running, I went to court and it turned out to be a pretty good thing. I got some of the help I needed. I got a job, and I got off drugs, and now my life is getting better. Writing has helped me find outlets and express myself in ways that I never knew of before.
AfA: You credit a substantial portion of your recovery and finding yourself to writing, spoken word and poetry. How do these things help you in your daily life?
Connor: Well, in a couple of ways. First off, I am no longer afraid of my own thoughts and what they might make me do. When I write and take my thoughts from my head to the paper, they aren't scary anymore. They lose their power over me. Before, when I didn't have that, they would spin in my head, and I would go crazy, eventually ending up doing things that hurt others and myself.
AfA: You have been through your own journey with addiction, recovery and finding yourself; creativity has played an important part in that. Tell us about the value creativity adds to your daily life.
Connor: Well, I wouldn't be where I am without it. My life isn't perfect. It's a lot better than it used to be. I'm happy with where I am going and what I am doing: helping myself by creating poems and songs and tracks is now what I do instead of drugs and hurting myself. It's quite a change from what I used to do and what I used to know.
AfA: Your sources for inspiration and influence are as diverse as they are surprising. You list both the rap artist Common and the poet Emily Dickinson. What commonality do you find with them?
Connor: Well, they both struggled. Like I am and like so many other people do.
You can find Connor's work at https://soundcloud.com/vague-van-ness
|
|
|
|
|
|
Our website is going to be updated!
| |
|
Mid-July Art from Ashes will have a new, cleaner website. Ten years is a long time to spend adding information, so we're doing some...er... Summer Cleaning! All new design!
Meanwhile, staying in touch via Facebook will give you all the latest information. Plus, you can interact with said information and let us know how you're doing, write some poetry and comment on the youth poems!
AfA's Facebook pages:
|
|
|
|
|
 Goodbye Maya Angelou
| |
|
Maya Angelou is considered to be nothing short of an American saint. Her words, wisdom and wit are singular in their scope and vision.
As a survivor of sexual violence, racism and economic struggle, Dr. Angelou knew better than most the power of connecting with one's own voice and being transformed by that process.
AfA's sole mission is to empower struggling youth through creative transformation. We want young people to know that life is about more than survival -- that they too can thrive. Your generosity will continue Dr. Angelou's legacy in a very real and important way.
|
|
|
|
Youth Poet Performance Celebrating National Poetry Month at Fleur Salon Words & Wine Event
| |
|
 | | AfA youth poet David |
If you would like to host your own Words & Wine event, please contact Catherine O'Neill Thorn at cait@artfromashes.org
|
|
|
For more performance videos, visit our YouTube site:
|
|
|
|
3-Minute Poem
| |
|
Close your eyes
and open up your mind,
For looks shall deceive you.
Stripped of fancy car or clothes,
I am the melodic airwaves
that rewrite the system.
So listen up!
You have controlled me too long.
So today I clip
the Puppet Master strings,
Shouting back
at the face of anarchy.
We believe in the beauty of self-expression.
|
|
|
 Adult Writing Workshops
| |
|
The next Adult
Introductory Series starts tomorrow, June 23rd and runs every Tuesday night until July 29th from 6 to 7.30 pm. THERE'S STILL ONE SPOT LEFT! Click here
for more information and email Catherine directly to sign up. Also, you can purchase an Adult Workshop gift certificate here as a great gift for a loved one (good throughout 2014)! We'll send a lovely card in your name.
|
|
|
|
Staff Stuff
| |
|
A Mathematician
With A Poet's Soul
Aimee Eddins, database manager
 All the little tasks, They add up; a lot of time. Lots and lots to do. So much accomplished A lot to say in long form Wanting to connect. If only I had A stadium of minions To help with the tasks. Some things I have done All the data is in now Slowly getting used. Various reports To make the staff all happy Ev'ry day there's more! I talk to people Collaborate or get help Lovely people, yes! Like my short poem? Come help write your own with us Lots of ways to help! Click here to volunteer!
|
|
|
Staff Update, Jessica Fitzgerald
Director of Programs
| |
|
Jessica Fitzgerald joined AfA as a youth intern in 2011. She became so impassioned by the work, that she trained as a facilitator, became Phoenix Rising program manager, then Director of Programs in 2013.
"While at New America School, one of our more recent contracts, we had a super engaged group from the beginning. I assumed they were just like that all the time. We could tell the students loved it, because we even had a youth come in to "write a quick poem" while using a bathroom pass from another class.
"A week later, one of the young people handed me his journal and said, "My teacher said to tell you this is one of the first classes I've ever turned anything in for." The teacher later confirmed it and said it was true for other youth, as well. By the end of the quarter, we already had a number of New America students participate in our performances, and all 30 of the youth were fully engaged and getting up to the mic.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Help Struggling Youth Find Meaning Through Creativity
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
Catherine O'Neill Thorn, Executive Director
303.837.1550
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 20XX. All Rights Reserved.
|
|
|
|
