News and Articles

ARTsmart Partners with Santa Fe Community Foundation’s Dollars4Schools on Santa Fe Youth Development Program Exhibition

For 25 years now ARTsmart has been offering visual art education to youth in Northern New Mexico. Through a partnership with Santa Fe Community Foundation’s Dollars4Schools initiative, ARTsmart has offered monthly programming at the Santa Fe Youth Development Program since January 2015. We are pleased to announce an exhibition of artworks by program youth from December 4, 2015 until January 7, 2016. The exhibition is open to the public in the newly renovated Santa Fe Community Foundation located on 501 Halona St. from 9am-5pm Monday-Friday.

Public exhibitions are a critical to the ARTsmart methodology, providing students with the opportunity to have their artwork seen by the community and celebrate their artistic accomplishments. Aaron Garcia, Youth Service Administrator, noted that the classes have made a major contribution to the lives of the youth in the program. “Providing visual art education has been tool for them to learn about healthy self-expression. We are grateful to ARTsmart for giving residents the opportunity to learn about themselves through structured, creative lessons.” “The transformation that access to the arts has made in some of the teenager’s communication is observable,” said ARTsmart instructor Mariel Garcia, “teaching here has been a meaningful addition to ARTsmart’s mission.”

ARTsmart Executive Director Sharon Peterson pointed out, “This program directly meets our goal to use art as a platform for developing life skills and we thank Dollars4Schools for making our classes at the Youth Detention Center a reality.”

When asked about the program, Director Ona Johnson said, “Dollars4Schools is honored to fund this groundbreaking collaborative effort with the Santa Fe County Youth Development Center and ARTsmart. We are proud to have such vital partners in our shared commitment to student success.”