Breaking Bread With Our Neighbors. Why We Do It.

Another week of quarantine and another week of food distribution in the long under-served difficult “Scottsdale” neighborhood of Carson. This place was hard hit even before COVID19, now for many residents below poverty line, elderly and ill it is even more so.  This is where the meaning of the “community” and “neighbors” comes into sharp focus.  

Within the first week of the emergency we lined up a great collaboration with FoodSycle LA which secured for us great donation sources and we started the distribution to the most vulnerable group of Scottsdale on the first weekend of the stay at home orders. 

We launched our emergency program on Saturday, March 22 ahead of most local governments who developed similar programs.  We are doing it ever since in the great collaboration with an amazing long time community activist, Chairwoman of Scottsdale Townhouses Association Board of Governors and Star Pro Security Company. On our food bags we put the uplifting art from local kids we generated through our program along with supportive messages.

Last week we collected and brought great nutritious food from Whole Foods and Sprouts, Sadie lovingly packed it and with Star Pro officers Jonathan and Adam we delivered 30 packages of  to fifteen families in need.  An 85 year old lady had fractured her leg and cannot even get out of house.  She had no food. Many lost what small odd jobs they had. Some are too frail to go to grocery stores.

There are places of need where we can all do something during the pandemic and especially once its over. We bring food and art. That’s why we do it.

 With Art We Persevere. 

By Loving Our Neighbor We Will Prevail!

With Art - We Persevere!

We have launched a new program - Love My Neighbor 2 Prevail - which brings together the healing power of the community with the long proven power of art to communicate and inspire at the times of crises.

We are continuing our Love My Neighbor curriculum program through a new format with its central message and practice being directly applied to communities in need in midst of national emergency.  In essence, the crisis is emphasizing everything the Love My Neighbor message and project are all about.  

We are combining the food distribution with outreach through children's art generated from our program, sharing the images and support messages from the children to lift the spirits of our older neighbors who are lonely in the social isolation.

This program now is more essential than ever with kids out of school, out of all organized after school programs, sports and clubs.  This program not just provides some in home activity – it gives kids the sense of participation in something important, of social responsibility and community engagement while being safe at home.

We tell kids that even in home isolation we are still a community.  We ask them what image they think can lift the spirit of another person who is lonely, who is worried, who is in need of help.  We tell them that art has a great visual power that can affect other people; that at the time of crisis people need each other even more than ever; that through art they can communicate their feeling toward other people, their neighbors.

This is what we believe the true purpose of art is and at the time like this it is needed more than ever.

With Art - We Persevere!

Love My Neighbor “Curriculum” in Collaboration with Artward Initiative Non-Profit, The California Arts Council and The City of Carson

We just had the most awesome Love My Neighbor “Curriculum” event at our non profit Artward! Gallery “Scottsdale” for a group of 37 inner city kids of Bridges International program. It is the generous California Arts Council grant that had allowed us to hire a bus and pay for the accompanying adults and program assistants to make our The City of Carson sponsored program available to more in the community.  





For this event we integrated our Love My Neighbor publicart installation space with the children art studio with a great effect on the curriculum. 

Cirilo Campos, the beloved by the community local gardener of 35 years and the subject of my life size "El Rey Trabajador" painting in the installation is walking by the students to their great excitement. It is special individuals like Cirilo who bind our communities together and are truly unsung heroes of our troubled society.

 

Engaged by the images and stories of great neighbors presented in the installation many students came up with striking images of their own. 
 

In our amazing partnerships we really changing the story of this chronically underserved community known for decades of institutional failure. 
The community where some local residents and officials are sometimes still afraid to set foot in-  is now a cultural and artsitic experience destination where bus tours are coming to.  

With The Californis Arts Council grant we are enabling a paradigm shift with art at the very core.  That’s why in ART we trust ! 

We Are Awarded The Grant from California Arts Council!

 

Press Release

　Contact: Olga Vlasova classicalunderground@yahoo.com (310) 710 - 7845
　
Date: December 15, 2018

Artward Initiative Awarded California Arts Council "Cultural Pathways" Grant

State funds support arts programs rooted in communities of color, recent immigrant and refugee communities, or tribal groups

[Carson, CA] – The California Arts Council announced its plans to award $8,400 to Artward Initiative as part of its Cultural Pathways program.

The Cultural Pathways program is rooted in the California Arts Council’s commitment to serving the needs of an increasingly demographically complex California, and the belief that a healthy arts ecosystem reflects contributions from all of California’s diverse populations. The program provides two years of operating support and a host of technical assistance and professional development activities to small, new and emerging organizations rooted in communities of color, recent immigrant and refugee communities, and tribal or indigenous groups.

　


Artward Initiative supports culturally engaged projects, public art and social interaction programs in underserved communities of color that promote cultural diversity and change the perception of the community through art. Our goal is to focus on art and culture as tool of community turn-around. Our projects include organizing and promotion of free and low cost classical music concerts that reach out to people of all backgrounds to ensure classical music is accessible to all. We conduct "Love My Neighbor" free public art projects in the disadvantaged communities in the City of Carson and established a non-profit "Artward! Gallery at "Scottsdale" neighborhood. We provide free art consultation and education to youth at risk as part of our art outreach and Gang Diversion program. We provide local minority groups with free art education programs.

"With the critical support of CAC Pathway grant Artward Initiative will be able to substantially advance the organizational capacity for our Love My Neighbor project. We now will be able to expand our programing by deeper engaging our program partners. We will be able to bring our program to new audiences in need and to bring new participants into our program. We will substantially increas our ability to provide the program and critical reliability of our planing by the ability to hire additional staff," said Artward Initiative President Olga Vlasova.


Artward Initiative is one of 56 grantees chosen for the Cultural Pathways program. The award was featured as part of a larger announcement from the California Arts Council.

"California’s cultural diversity is its greatest creative asset," said Nashormeh Lindo, California Arts Council Chair. "We are proud to support the work of Artward Initiative in celebration of that unique and cherished identity."

To view a complete listing of all Cultural Pathways grantees, visit http://arts.ca.gov/programs/files/FY1718_ProjectDescriptions_CP.pdf.

　

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Artward Initiative is formed to strengthen Southern California local communities through its charitable cultural activities. Our goal is to provide the economically disadvantage people and indigents in the local communities with improvement of professional skills and other educational resources they may need. Our events and projects are centered around community development and revitalization, enhance community's quality of life through art, cultural and educational projects. We support projects, public art and social action programs in underserved communities of color that promote cultural diversity and encourage greater understanding among different cultures including community beautification, civic leadership, citizen education as well as arts education initiatives that contribute to the positive development of young people and young people at risk. We support public art and social action programs that reflect our goals and focus on art as a tool of community turn-around.

The mission of the California Arts Council, a state agency, is to advance California through the arts and creativity. The Council is committed to building public will and resources for the arts; fostering accessible arts initiatives that reflect contributions from all of California's diverse populations; serving as a thought leader and champion for the arts; and providing effective and relevant programs and services.

Members of the California Arts Council include: Chair Nashormeh Lindo, Vice Chair Larry Baza, Phoebe Beasley, Christopher Coppola, Juan Devis, Kathleen Gallegos, Jaime Galli, Donn K. Harris, Louise McGuinness, Steven Oliver, and Rosalind Wyman. Learn more at www.arts.ca.gov.