BuildaBridge International restores hope and healing to communities affected by cultural and religious conflict, environmental catastrophe, poverty, illness, and social injustice. Through its specialized team service projects and arts intervention programs, BuildaBridge International promotes dialogue, understanding, and community development with partners throughout the world. BuildaBridge International’s mission is to meet the needs of the most vulnerable populations and to assist local organizations in sustainable development through local arts resources.
We engage artists, educators and creative art therapists in service to others. The Arts Relief and Development program focuses on Education, Healing and the Environment. Since 1997, our services have included creative arts camps, extended internships, special arts-based projects in all art forms, creative arts therapy, consulting, and training in education methods, therapeutic art and psychological first aid, and arts-based community development.
OUR FOCUS
Education
• Direct service with kids through trauma informed arts camps
• Artist teacher extended service in Haiti
• Teacher training in arts-assisted curriculum
• Scholarships for Haitians to attend the Institute
• Literacy through art-making
Healing
• Peace-making and conflict resolution through drama in conflict areas
• Creative arts therapy for amputees in local hospitals and for traumatized children everywhere
• Training local artists in therapeutic art skills
Environment
• Incorporating sack gardening and composting in all work with children and youth
• Tree planting and landscaping
• Improving the aesthetic environment through murals, sculptures and other outdoor art
For a more detailed explanation, read this post: Defining Arts Relief and Restoration.
Lessons from Arts Camps in Kenya
In the month of April people think of Easter, springtime, eggs baskets and bunnies. But when I think of the month of april, none of that comes to mind. I will smile with my eyes closed. I will see children flooding a small corrugated metal room- full of noise and activity.
Linking Love and Art for the Kids in Mathare
The day after I returned from the Democratic Republic of Congo with Buildabridge, working with a project withWomen in Warzones, I took a bus for 8 hours- straight to Mombasa to jump right into the Mathare art camp! The kids had already arrived a few hours ahead, when I arrived, so when I got there late Saturday evening I was just in time for dinner and to get a huge hug from so many of my kids!
Kontswi Pon! Yeah!
Magira Ross, Artist-on-Call and Director of BuildaBrige Community Programs
Arts for Hope and Healing in the Congo
Hope and healing happens when you learn a new skill, see yourself as you are, and envision applying that skill to your life. Mural-Making, Photography, Dance and Arts for Trauma were all part of the Diaspora of Hope Congo in November where artists from the United States and Kenya made their way to the Congo to work with women who suffer from the ongoing war. For most, if not all, of the women, this was the first time to paint or draw, to know how to mix colors, to hold a camera or take a picture, or to create a dance. Most importantly is that they expressed hope for their future in having jobs, educating their children, and having safe places to live. This expression is amidst tremendous physical suffering because of the war and recognizing that peace in the Congo is requisite for reality.
Take This Bag and Stuff It! Then Swim
I was on the phone with her, and could still hear my colleague screaming from the other side of the building—it was surround sound, “If I had read this earlier I would have never agreed to go on this trip! What have you gotten me into!!”
Sunday in Bukavu
It is Sunday morning, our first morning in Bukavu, Congo. We arrived on Friday night in Kigali, Rwanda and spent the night there. It was a moment of quiet relief. Rwanda is in such good condition compared to the last time I was here just after the genocide. We had a rolled package covered and taped in plastic (like a black garbage bag) to protect it, and before leaving customes we had to take it off and discard it. Plastic bags are outlawed in Rwanda - an environmental issue.
Training in Nicaragua Part 4
Dr. Vivian Nix-Early. Blog IV Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011
"Ariel, you were courageous and independent in your thinking when you felt free to sing "I don't dance" during our opening song. Everyone else did a dance, but you felt free to sing" That independence will serve you well." I was picking on Ariel to model speaking blessings to students - specific and personal affirmations that are a significant part of The BuildaBridge Classroom model.
Training in Nicaragua Part 3
Dr. Vivian Nix-Early. Blog III. Saturday, November 4, 2011, 7:30pm.
Hultner, Nancy and I ate dinner with three participants: Ariel, Andrea and Eliezer. A clown artist and evangelist from Managua. Eliezer’s story is a triumphant one – a powerful story of transformation. Eliezer grew up in the streets, becoming a fierce gang member, only to meet a pastor who cared and who challenged him to another way of life.
Training in Nicaragua Part 2
Dr. Vivian Nix-Early. Blog II. Saturday, Nov. 4, 2:00pm
The Imperfect Pot is an art-making experience introduced to the BuildaBridge Institute 10 years ago by Lynne Farrow, a visual artist and certified counselor living in Pasadena, and doing her own transformation work through art with a variety of populations. It has been a staple of the Institute and one of the most poignant art experiences for experiencing the impact of art as metaphor. Today in León was no different.
Training in Nicaragua Part 1
Dr. Vivian Nix-Early. Blog I. Saturday, Nov. 4, 2011, 7am.
Hultner Estrada drove smoothly but quickly through the Managua traffic to pick up two more women who would be attending the training on Art as Metaphor. He was transporting them, along with me and Nancy Perez, my co-trainer from Guatemala, to the city of León where the two-day training for artists scheduled to work in this year’s children’s art camp would take place. Sitting beside him in the front seat of his SUV, I asked Hultner how the camp came into being.
Arts Relief & Development posts
Posts from around the world...
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Lessons from Arts Camps in Kenya
In the month of April people think of Easter, springtime,… Be the first to comment! Read more... -
Linking Love and Art for the Kids in Mathare
The day after I returned from the Democratic Republic of… Be the first to comment! Read more... -
Kontswi Pon! Yeah!
Magira Ross, Artist-on-Call and Director of BuildaBrige Community Programs
Kontswi… Be the first to comment! Read more... -
Arts for Hope and Healing in the Congo
Hope and healing happens when you learn a new skill,… Be the first to comment! Read more... -
Take This Bag and Stuff It! Then Swim
I was on the phone with her, and could… Be the first to comment! Read more... -
Sunday in Bukavu
It is Sunday morning, our first morning in Bukavu, Congo.… Be the first to comment! Read more...