Artists For Humanity

It's an exciting time at Artists for Humanity as we lead unprecedented summer youth employment opportunities for Boston teens in partnership with the City of Boston’s Worker Empowerment’s Office of Youth Employment and Opportunity (YEO’s), futureBOS initiative.

They’ve cracked the code! Another success from our Creative Tech Studio! AFH teens and mentors teamed up with Christopher Pross, Managing Partner of ValueForm to produce valueform.io, to bring his vision to life—a website for his design agency. “I was interested in partnering with AFH for their mission. Mentoring teens at an early age, teaching them to build digital worlds and think in systems is tremendously valuable.” –Christopher Pross Jr., Managing Partner of ValueForm It’s always a delight to see work from AFH teens out in the world! Visit valueform.io to explore the fruits of this collaboration. #artistsforhumanity #teenswhocode #programming #youthempowerment #youthemployment

As Fellowship mentor for Artists For Humanity, I am excited to share the amazing work of our Fellow, Tori DelValle. She's creating 13 claymation figures for her "Thirteen Victories" apparel collection, representing the Boston-based femmes she interviewed. The process is intricate but Tori is loving every moment, from sketching designs to sculpting figures with clay. Want to know more about Tori? Check out her interview in our alumni story series ‘Where Are They Now?’ -> https://lnkd.in/ewGzkFsu #artistsforhumanity #claymation #afhfellowship2024 #artistsofboston Anna Yu Nicole Dubov

Our next edition in our Alumni Series "Where are they now?" is live! https://lnkd.in/e5hTG8sb Read about how AFH Alumna turned AFH Artist Fellow Tori DelValle brings her neighborhood the "Villa Victoria” into every space she enters, and weaves her own story and culture into her work, while unraveling the systems of power in which we all live. “You can’t raise a kid alone, you need community. Having places like AFH or the community organizations I grew up with is giving these young people a place to express themselves, to ask these questions, to make mistakes, get guidance…that’s everything.” —Victoria "Tori" DelValle Tori's body of work being created as a resident in AFH's Artists Fellowship will be shown during the Fellowship's culminating exhibition at AFH's Open Studio this fall, on October 29. Follow Tori and her creative journey on instagram @thirteenvicarchive and on her website. https://lnkd.in/enM4Re4h

Another successful school year working in design at Artists For Humanity — my 16th at AFH to be exact! Bring on the summer! 🫶😎

The 200 Inner Belt lobby in Somerville is looking picture-perfect! Featuring work by AFH Photography teens, the lobby now exhibits a mixture of industrial and nature themed black and white digital photographs, and with their added aesthetic, the lobby has become the perfect place to hang out. Thank you North River Company for collaborating with us! And a big shout out to AFH Photography teens Nancy Gonzales (Image 3), Elizabeth Willie (Image 5), and Mariana Brhane (Image 7). Looking for art work to hang on the walls of your office or your home? Connect at https://lnkd.in/eqr9W8PD #artistsforhumanity #youthemployment #creativeindustries #photographyteens #bostonart

COMING SOON! The AFH Collaboration Center At Artists For Humanity, we employ 400+ teens in Boston and New York City in the creative Industries annually and embedded in our unique youth workforce development model are real work experiences. This summer, with your help, we’ll enhance these experiences by building a dedicated conference room, known as the AFH Collaboration Center. Not only will we collaborate with colleagues, clients, and community members to complete projects in our new Collaboration Center, we’ll also expose our teens to evolving workplace technology and equipment, earn revenue as a rentable green room and staging space for our event rental business, and offer community members and non-profit partners use of the conference room free of charge. We need $63,000 to make this a reality and continue to offer a state of the art facility for our next generation of creative leaders. Your support will also fund additional building needs critical to maintaining the EpiCenter as a hub of creativity and collaboration in Boston.   Please consider supporting AFH’s teens today with a gift in any amount to bring our Collaboration Center to life. Or donate by July 30 to become a Friend of the Collaboration Center and receive naming recognition in the space and on our website: $10,000 - Collaborator (name branded on conference table) $5,000 - Benefactor (name branded on a conference room chair) $2,500 – Patron (donor recognition wall) $1,000 – Partner (donor recognition wall) $500 - Companion (donor recognition wall) $250 – Friend (donor recognition wall) Please follow the link to donate, and bring us that much closer to making the Collaboration Center a reality! https://lnkd.in/gReCec_z We thank you for your support of AFH and our teens who are exploring their voice and forging their path to success.

It’s been one year for AFH in NYC and our team celebrated at our Summer Sizzle on Wednesday, in awe of how far we have come as a collective and as individuals with our growing NYC community. “I deeply believe in AFH in NYC,” said AFH NYC Director Hannah Fallon as she spoke with the crowd about her AFH story. We have been dreaming about launching in NYC for 14 years! With a generous donation from Citizens Philanthropic Foundation we became official! Together with Panera Bread Foundation, Pasculano Family Foundation, Shinnyo-en Foundation and Pace Gallery we celebrated our one year anniversary at the James Cohan Gallery, who generously provided their beautiful space to gather, converse, network, and display the inspiring art work of our AFH NYC teen artists. We are so grateful for the support and headed toward our future, as AFH’s Executive Director shared at the mic, we are geared up to go from “20 teens in our little Bushwick studio to 250 teens in 2028, and I know we can do it as we are the largest employer of youth in Boston, employing over 400 teens annually—pretty amazing!” Our very own Alumni turned AFH NYC mentor Mattaya Fitts moved us with her words…“[As a teen artist] AFH really helped me to explore my creativity and it also gave me community in the sense that I met so many peer artists and also mentors, who I still keep in touch with till this day. [Now] As a mentor, we guide the teens through the creative process, including client projects, we give them feedback on their work and we help them in actualizing their ideas…I really can’t wait to see what we have in store for the future” And our NYC teen artists were definitely not shy… “Prior to joining AFH I wasn’t as really confident as I am today. I am becoming more comfortable in myself and my artwork. I am really proud of my art…and AFH helped me to apply to college…and I got accepted to FIT, so overall AFH is a part of my story and has impacted me in so many ways—AFH is like a second home!” —Madison Jackson-Horne “I remember the day before our first exhibition…I was really excited about my self-portrait  but it was not finished…lucikly I was able to have it on display as a work in progress…but to my surprise I was met with many intrigued expressions…many client comments and even received an offer on my work…though I saw it as incomplete to everyone else, it was finished. I remember the rush I felt knowing that my work was valued.”  —My Anh Phan, Teen Artist Just so much to celebrate!  Stay connected and continue to follow our NYC story on our platforms.

I’m so honored to have spoke at the Artists For Humanity Summer Sizzle! Thank you to everyone who came and supported us Youth Artists. Shoutout to my mentors who were able to make it to this event (Jeary Payne & Michael Mason) and additionally to Hannah Fallon and Mattaya Fitts for this opportunity to display my work. I’m also extremely proud of my fellow Youth artists who had their work featured and sold their works at this event!! (Zeph Li, Nishat Rimin, Darren Lin, Tayiba Rahman)

I'm thrilled to share that my mentee and Lesley University alumnus, Audrey Calhoun, an Artists For Humanity Fellow, is creating her own sitcom! I had the privilege of being on set and witnessing her dedication, creativity, and passion firsthand at the Capitol Theater in #ArlingtonMa. Audrey's commitment to storytelling is truly inspiring. Her sitcom promises to bring fresh, authentic stories to the screen, and I know it will resonate with many people. A huge shoutout to you, Audrey! Your hard work and vision are paying off. Shout out to Laurian Taijai Slaughter for the assist! Nicole Dubov Ingrid Stobbe Lesley University Thomas Englehardt, MBA Debbie Mosher #ProudMentor #AFHFellow #NewSitcom #Inspiration #OnSet #Lesley ---