Creativity takes courage

— Henri Matisse, visual artist

On August 10^th, Mid-City CAN held a community art event showcasing multi-media art installations produced by this year’s Artivism students! The themes of their stories are all centered on environmental racism and city neglect happening in San Diego.

The Artivism program provides middle and high school students ages 13-18 with hands-on art experience that weaves art with activism and leadership development. Students make hands-on art projects and learn about the role art plays in social movements and historic change by exploring how art is used to tell stories about community, self, and social justice. This year’s curriculum included training in photography, videography, video editing software, and audio equipment. Students also learned how to construct installations to screen their short films.

"It was inspiring to see the youth developing their point of view on issues of environmental racism and city neglect through art. As their teacher I was excited for the public to see what the Artivism youth created," said Victor Castaneda H, the program’s teaching artist and Creative Liaison at The AjA Project.

"I've always had an interest in photography, but I’ve never had access to the right equipment, so I wasn't able to practice. But with Artivism I was given a camera, and was able to learn about lighting, color grading, and shutters, which was really cool," said Kathleen, Artivism student.

Click here to read more about the 2024 Artivism Program!