Fall/Winter 2022 Donor Dispatch: Art Education and Community Outreach at RedLine

About Our Art Education & Community Programs

At RedLine, the focus of our art education and community programs is all about depth rather than breadth.

Our Reach Program offers long-term professional opportunities for artists who may be in recovery, unhoused, or experiencing severe financial hardship.

Our Youth Art Mentoring and EPIC Arts programs encourage young artists in local schools to use art as their voice — and to speak about the issues affecting their communities and their lives.

Learn more about the exciting plans for our Art Education and Community Outreach programs below, and how your support helps artists in our community thrive!

The Philosophy of Our Arts Education Program

Tya Alisa Anthony, Art Education Director

As the Art Education and Community Director here at RedLine (and an Alumni Artist of the RedLine Artist in Residence program), it’s an honor to share my philosophy and vision for the future of our education programs. 

As an artist and a whole human being, what truly inspires my mission to infuse socially engaged art education (artist and communities exchanging ideas, addressing social issues, and inspiring social change) in schools and local communities is personally experiencing the evolution of self and connection to community betterment through the journey of sharing one’s voice through art.

I believe there is great potential for growth by utilizing Social Emotional Learning curriculum and Socially Engaged Art practices. Whether that looks like our Annual Youth Art Exhibition dedicated to our Youth Art Mentoring program, or our Reach CORE Artist program for artists who may be in recovery, unhoused, or experiencing financial hardship, I believe everyone should have access to mentorship, art, and the benefits of sharing their voice. 

And I believe those who choose to study, appreciate, explore, and create art that inspires others and drives social change deserve the opportunity, space, and resources to do so. 

With the increase in diverse community members in Denver and the state of Colorado, we feel there is a great need to expand our art education programs to connect with those who can holistically benefit from using art as a means of personal growth and self-reflection. 

I strive to continue the legacy of our Art Education team by honoring the work of my predecessors, JC Futrell and Robin Galitte, by connecting communities and artists to explore social justice through art. 

I look forward to continuing to collaborate with our Community Outreach Coordinator, Moe Gram, and Reach CORE Artists. This will include community and youth feedback sessions, along with a series of cross-district School Art Making Nights held in our Community Studio. 

The challenges and opportunities of supporting and mentoring artists of all ages and walks of life to inspire social change isn’t a simple task. We will continue to infuse lived experience, collaboration, consistency, and community care in all planning, programming, and implementation to ensure RedLine’s artist-focused values are upheld.

New Plans for our EPIC Program

The EPIC Arts program at RedLine has collaborated with K-12 art classes in local schools throughout Denver’s historic Five Points neighborhood for over a decade.

Now, in light of a two year global pandemic (and consequential school closures), we’ve taken a fresh look at the EPIC program to ensure we’re fully supporting the current needs of youth artists in our community.

While honoring the EPIC program’s original goal of fostering socially-engaged art making, the revised program aims to inspire youth artists to self-advocate, discover their identities, explore their place in their communities, connect with their peers, and express social/emotional concepts within their art practice. 

The program will continue to match RedLine Resident Artists and Denver community artists with art educators and students in Denver and Aurora, with the addition of after school programs and local community centers that support LGBTQIA+ and marginalized youth. 

We have a goal of growing to add 7-10 community centers in the next 3 years, with 3 of those centers focused on artists experiencing homelessness and LGBTQIA+ youth.

With the expertise of our Art Education Coordinator Shaunie Berry, we’re developing an annual summer training opportunity for art administrators and teachers. 

Our Art Ed team will be expanding our programs to better support teachers by hosting a training symposium in August/September 2023. The goal of this opportunity is to equip teachers and administrators to implement a social justice/social change art education framework in their classrooms and centers.

Youth Art Mentoring in 2023

By Art Education Coordinator Shaunie Berry

 RedLine’s Youth Art Mentoring program was created in 2013 in partnership with local neighborhood schools to support students in the local Five Points area and beyond.

The program currently engages 26 4th-12th graders at Whittier EC-8 and Bruce Randolf schools in a year-long one-on-one mentorship with professional and emerging community artists. 

Youth Art Mentoring provides students with a safe environment after school with a trusted adult mentor to explore the arts and build connections with their classmates and community. 

In Youth Art Mentoring, we focus on using social emotional learning objectives along with social justice art education to engage youth in exploring their creativity and expressing how they feel about issues that are important to them. 

The goals of Youth Art Mentoring are to teach the students how to think like an artist — to not  be a passive observer, but to look deeper into their world experiences and advocate for themselves and others. Students learn that everything can connect to social justice when you break it down to its core. 

The mentorship culminates in an exhibition at RedLine of the students' projects in which their work is celebrated by the public. 

2022 has been an exciting year for Youth Art Mentoring for several reasons:

• We opened admission to additional grade levels and are serving the highest number of students in our history. 

• We have a large incoming class of excited 5th graders aging into the program that will likely return for several years. 

• There was a 75% mentor return rate from 2022, and many of the mentors describe having positive experiences with the program. 

The art mentoring experience is a meaningful relationship for both parties — our youth and adults form a trusting friendship, and the kids are able to share a part of themselves with their mentor that they may not feel comfortable sharing in their regular social environments.

The program is a safe space for open dialogue, questioning, and growth — and most importantly, fun!

Learn more about Shaunie and how Youth Art Mentoring supports local Five Points schools >

Reach Program — Where it’s Going and Growing in 2023 and Beyond

In the fall of 2021, we welcomed our new Community Outreach Coordinator, Moe Gram. A big part of Moe’s role is to oversee RedLine’s Reach program and conduct outreach to diverse communities.

Through philanthropic funding, we’re able to offer Reach as an open studio program, where people in recovery or who have experienced housing insecurity can engage in community that’s collaborative and inclusive. 

Tuesday through Saturday, participants are invited to come and create within a community that provides supplies and guidance.

In 2022, our education team evaluated and interviewed current and past members of the Reach program to bring enhancements and a deeper level of curriculum to meet the needs of the artists. 

The new curriculum for our Reach Core Artist was adapted from the same methodology we use with our Resident Artists.

The Core Artist program has been expanded to focus on professional development for the artists interested in pursuing a visual arts career, or who want to use their art to generate an additional income stream.

We relaunched the Core Artist program in April of 2022 to help these artists achieve these goals. The heart of the program remains the same: to continue to cultivate artists’ power and talent, and provide resources to use that power to accomplish their greatest ambitions.

We also have a tiered curriculum that includes professional development workshops, field trips, studio visits, earned income opportunities, exhibitions, residency opportunities, and so much more. 

The evolved Core Artist program is ambitious in the most beautiful way possible.  I understand how important it is for artists to have an extra source of income, and it’s important for me to support this process for our Core Artists. 

In this elevated version of the Core Artist program, we hope to help artists gain their footing in Denver’s art scene and excel within an industry that appreciates their existing talents.

Learn more about Moe and her plans for growing RedLine’s Reach program >

Support our Art Education and Community Outreach Programs Today!

Our Art Education and Community Outreach programs are made possible by the generous support of RedLine donors and members.

Together we can continue to support youth artists and artists from every walk of life to use art as their voice — and to speak about the issues affecting their communities and their lives.

Support our Art Education and Community Outreach programs with a gift today! >