Artists For Humanity

Our last Open Studio of the year featuring the culminating exhibition of our 2024 AFH Artists Fellowship Password***** is today, Oct 29 from 5-7:30 pm. Come see and experience the full body of work created by AFH Artist Fellows Audrey Calhoun, Tori 'thirteenvic" DelValle, Dubem "CalvinKleinCaterpillar" Okafor, Taijai Slaughter, and Ananda Toulon. And an added treat, we will have local Boston musicians performing from 6:30-7:30pm—a mix of rap, pop, and hip hop! Thank you to our generous donors for making the Fellowship possible. Our Open Studio is a free and public event where guests also get tours of our seven creative studios and engage with our enterprising teen artists and designers. Pop over to the link below for more information about today's event. https://lnkd.in/eUYcNMvB #artistsforhumanity #afhopenstudios #afhfellowship2024 #fallexhibition #bostonartists TD

We are excited to share the unveiling of one of our latest murals—this time in partnership with an elementary school and an investment firm! In collaboration with Natixis Investment Managers, AFH’s Painting Studio teens, guided by their mentors, designed and implemented an approximately 360 sq ft. mural on the wall adjacent to the John Winthrop Elementary School playground, as part of their playground beautification project. Winthrop students, teachers, and parents provided input into the design, which was unveiled last Thursday. AFH joined the community to celebrate the collaboration and beautification of the Schools’s space! We are grateful to Natixis Advisors and Winthrop Elementary School for the opportunity to bring art to the Dorchester/Roxbury neighborhood—home to many of our very own AFH teen artists! Photo (L to R): AFH Teen Artist Liciany Gomes, AFH mentor Amril Foster, AFH Co-Founder and Managing Director of Program Jason Talbot, Winthrop Elementary School teacher @Rachel Cash-Bacon, and AFH Director of Painting Gary Chen. #artistsforhumanity #youthdevelopment #creativetransformation #socialentrepreneurship #paintingunveiling 

AFH 2024 Artist Fellow Dubem Okafor sat down with us to talk about his life and work, and how the AFH Fellowship came just at the right time, propelling him to create work that felt both authentic to his upbringing and his relationship to the art world. “My work, my creative DNA, is so much about expressing myself transparently and trying to induce other people to express themselves transparently.” Dubem, along with four other AFH Artist Fellows, will be showcasing their body of work and their journey during the nine-month AFH Fellowship at their culminating exhibition Password*****—featured at AFH's upcoming Open Studio on October 25 from 5-7:30pm at the AFH EpiCenter, 100 W 2nd St. in Boston. Join us! #afhfellowship2024 #artistsforhumanity #prescreening #directorscut #afhopenstudio

Are you ready for Election day? Artists For Humanity is a polling location again this year and we want to make sure you all have as many resources as possible to prepare you to vote on Tuesday, November 5! Swipe through to read information compiled by MASSCreative regarding voter registration, early voting, learning who is on your ballot, and more! You can also reach out via createthevote@mass-creative.org if you have any questions or concerns. Image 1: “Hands Love Helping” by AFH Alum Massiel Grullon as a teen. #artistsforhumanity #masscreative #votinginma #electionday #community

“Art has been a journey that humbles me. It's taught me to find beauty in imperfection, to welcome the unknown, and to feel joy in creating. I look forward to making pieces that are unique and special to me, and can be special to others regardless if they interpret it differently.”–Tania Palencia, AFH Alum Every month, we collaborate with @pruboston to feature a new AFH teen artist. October’s featured artist is Tania—a former teen artist who is now an alumna of AFH and a current MassArt student. Works such as “Koi” (image 1 and 2) and “Envy” (image 3 and 4) will be displayed on digital kiosks all around Prudential Center. This is an amazing way to give our teen artists a voice and an opportunity to be a part of the public art scene! Follow us and turn your notifications on to be among the first to learn about next month’s talented teen. #artistsforhumanity #prudentialboston #youthengagement #publicart #bostonartists

Who is ready for an EXCLUSIVE Pre-Screening of Password***** on October 25? Get ready for an evening full of director's cuts resulting from AFH's nine-month Artists Fellowship program. Look forward to a stop-motion claymation, short form videos, a sitcom pilot, an experimental film, and behind the scenes' clips. The evening will also include a moderated Artist Talk where AFH Fellows will share their insights, artistic process, and experiences during their time in the 2024 AFH Artist Fellowship. Our Featured Fellows: 🐛Dubem “CalvinKleinCaterpillar” Okafor 🪷Ananda Toulon 🧵Tori ‘thirteenvic’ DelValle 📹Taijai Slaughter 🍿Audrey Calhoun Grab a $10 ticket TODAY by following the link below: https://lnkd.in/esBuwT_U October 25 6-8pm The AFH EpiCenter 100 W 2nd St., Bostons P.S. Join us at our Open Studio on October 29 from 5-7:30pm at the AFH EpiCenter to see the tangible works of their exhibition Password*****.  Open Studio also includes tours of our creative studios—so come ready to go behind-the-scenes to meet our enterprising teens and learn more about their inspirational work. This is a free and public event! #afhfellowship2024 #artistsforhumanity #prescreening #directorscut #afhopenstudio

Artists For Humanity is honored to be continuing and growing our work with IREX in 2024. We have learned so much from our Community Engagement Exchange (CEE Program) Fellows Melike Gül Özkaplan and Mohammed Ali Sadoon during our host experience for their CEE Practicum, a journey filled with incredible experiences and holistic learning.   CEE is a three-month U.S.-based Civil Society placement program, designed to equip young and emerging civil society leaders from over 100 countries globally with the right tools, resources, and networks, to lead resilient and engaged communities. AFH Co-Lab Director Lizzy Mayer was fortunate to continue the work with Melike following her time in Boston, receiving an IREX Community Engagement Project (CEP) Exchange program grant to travel to Türkiye in late September in order to collaborate on Melike’s project addressing high youth unemployment in the Adana region, which was heavily impacted by the February 2023 earthquake.   Thank you so much to AFH’s 2024 CEE Fellows Melike and Mohammed, The U.S. Department of State, and the CEE Team at IREX! #CEE2024 #CommunityEngagement #ProfessionalGrowth

To all who attended Artopia, we are truly grateful to you for making it such a success! Artopia is not just any fundraiser, but one conceived each year by our intergenerational team and brought to life through hard work and steadfast dedication to our mission and work. But it never comes full circle without our broader community showing up. Thank you! For those of you who made a donation—wow! We surpassed our goal and we couldn’t be more thankful for this outpouring of generosity. Ongoing donations are key to sustaining our pioneering mission to empower and inspire teens to build their future! If you have yet to donate, there’s still time to give, no amount is too small. https://lnkd.in/e5cT2hkW 2025 is almost here, and we’re hoping you left Artopia already asking yourself—who will I invite next year?

As the Design Director in AFH's Graphic Design Studio Kelsey Arbona is a recognizable face, as well as a powerful force within our community. Kelsey and the Graphic Design Studio are currently working on a wide variety of pieces, including awards, large-scale graphic murals, interactive designs, and much more! It's clear that Kelsey is not only dedicated to good design, but also to the ways design can inform and transform, both in small and large-scales. “I have always been inspired by the power of design,” Kelsey expresses, “It can educate, persuade, clarify, transform communities, and solve problems. I apply design thinking to every personal and professional challenge in my life.” That being said, she also recognizes the importance of stepping away from the computer and embarking on hands-on creative challenges including calligraphy, hand lettering, collage, and even assembling furniture! When asked what advice she would provide a young Kelsey, she emphasized the importance of exploration and the power of making mistakes. “I would tell my younger self that in design, there are no definitive right or wrong answers—only process. Embrace the journey, stay curious in exploration and experimentation, and fail forward.” Happy Mentor Monday! Behind every success is a long line of failures and AFH is lucky to have mentors like Kelsey to guide AFH teens towards that success! #mentormonday #artistsforhumanity #youthdevelopment #graphicdesign #bostonartists

Get to know Yalvin Zayas, an AFH Teen Designer in Creative Tech Studio! #youthdevelopment #spotlight #animation