AYV Partner Appreciation Events Around The World: New York City

Since 2009 the Adobe Foundation and TakingITGlobal have engaged in a powerful partnership to make the Adobe Youth Voices program available across the globe. The program has offered training and resources to educators from around the world to help them create positive impact in their communities by empowering their youth with media making skills. By partnering with community organizations, non-profits, and schools, TakingITGlobal has brought the AYV program to over 50 countries, reaching more than 10,000.

In this journey we had the opportunity to hear amazing stories from youth and to exchange experiences with a number of fantastic educators and organizations. They integrated Adobe Youth Voices in their already existing programming and started meaningful dialogues with youth ages 13 to 18 talking about real issues that affect the youth and their communities by using digital media to communicate their unique perspectives on those issues.

But none of that would have been possible if it wasn’t for the amazing partners we were able to connect with and the fantastic people who took upon themselves the commitment to positively impact the way youth see themselves as change makers, as leaders, or simply as individuals who are inherently creative. These organizations work to bridge the gap, to create opportunities and to develop potential, creating meaningful connections for youth at risk.

As the Adobe Youth Voices program transitions into a new phase, TakingITGlobal wanted to express our appreciation to these partners and to thank them for all their hard work and commitment that allowed AYV to have the positive impact that it did.

In August of 2015, AYV Program Coordinator, Bruna Aguiar went down to New York City to visit our most prominent partners in NYC and express our gratitude for the work they have done. Leave Out Violence (LOVE), The Lamp and Global Potential were three of our most committed organizations that year after year outdid themselves by empowering youth and giving them a safe place to develop a critical mind and to express their voices through their art.

On August 6 ^th we partnered with LOVE to host an event that was held at the Christie Gallery, where youth from their programs showcased their art and TakingITGlobal celebrated the work done by the three organizations throughout the years of partnership with AYV by awarding them with a Certificate of Appreciation.

LOVE is an organization that operates in the US and Canada. They work with youth who suffer or perpetrate violence in the city, helping them cope with the violence they experience through arts: photography, video, visual arts and poetry. On August 6th we got to see all of those in an event called “A Crazy Little Thing Called”.

For the first part of the event, the youth, boys and girls ages 15 to 18 exhibited their photography work as well as sculptures.

In a modern gallery space, the youth artists stood beside their artworks and explained to their audience, which ranged from youth to older adults, what they did. Themes like domestic violence, nostalgia, solitude and celebration of women of color were topics that inspired the youth photographers. It was noticeable how the collections spoke to the moment these youth are living through. Some prepare to head to university this fall, some deepen their connections with other youth artists, becoming more aware of their role in the city context, while others explore their place in society and the group they belong to.

For the second half of the exhibit, youth from LOVE read original poems they created in their programs and also screened a short film.

Following the youth presentations, TakingITGlobal awarded our outstanding partners their Appreciation Certificates and expressed our gratitude and respect for the work they put into their program and the impact they created in so many youth and community lives.

The art exhibit ‘A Crazy Little Thing Called’ would not have been possible if it was not for these special people from LOVE: Erica Reade, Program Director; Caryn Moore, Program Facilitator; and Mike Wesolowski and Vicki Gomez, Program Facilitators, who put so much thought and dedication into it.

A special thank you as well to D.C. Vito, Alan Berry and their team from The Lamp for inspiring youth to look at mass media through a critical lenses, and to Peter Maugeri and Jean Ulysse from Global Potential and their team for paving a road for youth leaders in the US and abroad to develop, connect with each other and to thrive together.

We would like to thank all the educators from these sites for the work and commitment that they have contributed to the Adobe Youth Voices Program over the years. The program would not have had the impact that it did without your commitment and dedication.