Empowering Youth Through Art & Healing-Centered Engagement
Studio Stories—ArtForce Iowa
Since ArtForce Iowa started in 2012, youth have been the center of the organization’s hope to end cycles of trauma with hope, kindness, love and art.
The nonprofit organization uses three signature programs to support youth in an art-based community: Pathways, Heroes and ArtForce Everywhere.
Pathways serves young people involved in the court system using art and healing-centered engagement workshops.
The workshops give youth opportunities to find their own meaning and aspirations beyond their trauma. This type of care focuses on not only what happened to youth, but also what’s going right with them.
“We want young people’s trauma cycles to be interrupted with love and kindness, and with art,” Christine said. “It’s important for us to remind people that not everyone gets their cycles interrupted, but each person can play a role in breaking their own cycles at any time.”
It’s also the only organization to offer these workshops at Polk County Juvenile Detention Center.
“[Youth] are so much more than the traumas that have happened to them,” explained Christine. “They also have hope and aspirations, and those two things are what will help them heal as individuals.”
Christine is quick to point out that this type of program isn’t toxic positivity or saviorism. Instead, it allows young people to evolve with the hope of being someone they want to be.
The J.E.D.I. (justice, equity, diversity and intersectionality/inclusion) program also supports adults who work with youth like teachers, social workers, juvenile court officers and more.
“Often, adults label young people and perpetuate the harm, so we’re trying to eliminate that harm by supporting adults through our J.E.D.I. training.”
The second program, Heroes, caters to youth that identify as immigrant, refugee and first-generation Americans. The program provides a multilingual environment to help them adjust to a new culture using creativity and art.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, it was difficult to do in-person workshops, so ArtForce Iowa got creative and formed ArtForce Everywhere. The new program allows them to meet young people wherever they are through Facebook Live, YouTube, schools and more.
Through each of its three programs, ArtForce Iowa is creating opportunities for youth to transform through art.
“The youth are the ones making the change and transforming their own lives through art. We’re just lucky that we get to share space with them.”
ArtForce Iowa
Christine Her
Studio 245
Artforceiowa.org