Category Archives: Opportunities & Resources

BIPOC Alumni Council, Opportunities & Resources

CYD Alums: Join us for The Art of Healing

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Blue and purple abstract design background with 2 light blue windows in the lower left coner. Each one has a person coming out of them. One a figure with long hair and striped pants. The other is waving to the first, wearing a yellow shirt. Words fill the rest of the space: CYD BIPOC Alumni Council Presents The Art of Healing, an event for CYD Alumni to come together and heal through art.

Join Mass Cultural Council’s Creative Youth Development BIPOC Alumni Council on May 20 from 6-7:30pm (ET) for a night of healing, creation, and connection. We invite alumni from CYD organizations from around the country to create with us. As May is Mental Health Awareness Month, the Alumni Council wants to reflect on the importance of using one’s art as a way to prioritize the investment of one’s mental health. They hope for young artists to reconnect to their own artistic practices and to make connections with one another that go beyond this evening.

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BIPOC Alumni Council, Opportunities & Resources

Attend a Forum on Youth Art, Power & Peace

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A Youth-Led Virtual Forum on Building Community and Healing through Art Making

March 19, 2021, 3:30-5pm

A year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic forced teachers and students to pivot to remote learning. In response, Mass Cultural Council began facilitating bi-weekly CYD Community Meetings to support the field during this new reality. We also co-hosted a series of forums on Remote Learning in Arts Education and Creative Youth Development alongside EdVestors and the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture.

Our next forum will be facilitated by youth members of the Bloomberg Arts Internship Alumni Advisory Council and Mass Cultural Council’s CYD BIPOC Alumni Council. Join us as we explore themes of community building; processing and healing from trauma; and addressing the socio-emotional challenges of the pandemic through the lens of art making.​

Please note that Zoom information for the forum will be sent to registered attendees closer to the event.

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Opportunities & Resources, Professional Development

Register for Trauma and Arts-Centered Healing Workshops

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Headshot of Renée Watson of left, and headshot of Dr. Tasha Golden on the right
Renée Watson, left, (Photo: Shawnte Sims) and Dr. Tasha Golden, right.

An international World Health Organization study found that 70% of respondents had experienced at least one type of trauma in their lifetime (Magruder et al., 2016). Over the last year, trauma in the cultural community has become even more prevalent due to the long-term toxic stress of the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and the injustices of racial inequality.

Trauma disproportionately impacts communities of color and young people, who are often already living with inadequate resources and access to power. Given these impacts, Mass Cultural Council is offering two workshops focused on understanding trauma and supporting healing in our community. Led by Dr. Tasha Golden and Renée Watson, these sessions will focus on how the arts can support healing, share and amplify the experiences of trauma and healing, and help transform policies and structures that perpetuate inequities.
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Opportunities & Resources

Youth Arts Impact Network Expands to Public-Private Partnership

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youth ensemble playing at an outside arts festival
Students performing at 2018 Boston Public Schools Citywide Arts Festival on Boston Common. Photo: Elliot Haney.

Beginning in 2021 Mass Cultural Council will partner with EdVestors to extend the offer of services, expertise, and resources of the Youth Arts Impact Network (YAIN) to organizations across the Commonwealth. Through this expansion, Mass Cultural Council aims to support the state-wide Creative Youth Development (CYD) network with critical support in a time of changing program delivery models and focus areas.
Continue reading Youth Arts Impact Network Expands to Public-Private Partnership →