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VIBE Youth Art Program

This summer, our Queensbridge youth program partnered with the city’s MAP initiative to launch VIBE Youth— an initiative that seeks to provide structured programming for young adults (16-24) to produce and present public art that increases the vibrancy of their communities. Riis worked with our friends and partners from Wide Rainbow and the Blue Bus Project to provide 15 youth with weekly art classes and creative skills training.

Wide Rainbow is a free non-profit that connects contemporary artists with the community. They serve low-income neighborhoods with limited or no access to the arts or arts education and have generously provided art classes to our youth for many years. For this program, they curated a series of virtual workshops led by several amazing artists, which covered various creative skills, including painting, puppetry, sculpture, stenciling, gardening, and more. 

The Blue Bus Project, a nonprofit organization committed to bringing participatory arts events into underserved communities around NYC, has also partnered with Riis on several art projects. For this project, lead artist Annalisa Iadicicco partnered with muralist Kristy McCarthy to help guide the youth in the design and creation of a mural in the community center that celebrates the hopes and dreams of the young people of Queensbridge.

Mural designing with the Blue Bus Project

The program culminated last week with a public exhibition of the various artworks that the youth created, as well as the unveiling of the mural.

Completed Mural

Our thanks to the funder and all the talented artists who shared their talents and skills with our youth. To view more of the youth’s works, click here.

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