Thank You, 2014 // Moving Forward to 2015

“Human rights matter because people need to know and respect us because we all have the same rights.”

“Human rights matter because we are born with them and they have to be respected.”

“Human rights matter because there are certain things that should be given to people.”

These were some of the responses our students had when asked, “why do you human rights matter to you?” As ARTE closes its 2014 chapter, we lead with this question as we continue to engage with various youth communities to promote education of human rights through art, design, technology, and other creative means.

Below are some ARTE 2014 highlights. We are thrilled to have accomplished so much, and we are even more motivated to think about the great things we look to achieving next year.

We LED several arts-based human rights programming (across four different states) in Hyde Park and New York City, New York; at Rootscamp in Washington, D.C.; in Newark, New Jersey, and in Boston, Massachusetts. We have worked with youth and adults alike, engaging and challenging them to explore the human rights issues that they are most passionate about through art. In these workshops, we invited participants to envision a world free from human rights abuses. From youth learning about and creating community murals to address child slavery to adults sharing with others their vision to make change, these efforts resulted in both incredible art and education around important human rights issues.

We DEVELOPED a quality human rights arts curriculum for high school students in Elmhurst, Queens, at the Pan American International High School. These past few weeks, we’ve focused on both children’s rights (including child slavery and child soldiers) and learned more about women’s rights. Students have made their own flags, mosaics, created their own masks, and have even used spoken word poetry to create their own mobiles.

For 2015, we ENVISION further strengthening ARTE’s relationship with youth populations throughout New York City and beyond to provide the human rights and arts education they deserve. We will continue to support our amazing youth club at Arlington High School in Boston, MA, as they learn more about child slavery and what they can do take a stand against it. We also look forward to our exciting collaboration with Public Allies New York and their non-profit leaders, who will be supporting ARTE in building a citywide Community Engagement Series, bringing audiences together to explore major local and global human rights issues in creative forms.

In closing for 2014, we express our condolences to all who have lost loved ones through violence, brutality, poverty, and in 2015, we pledge to work even harder in our efforts to create a world less weighed down by human rights violations. We also express our sincere gratitude for all of those who supported ARTE this past year. We simply could not have done this without you.

At ARTE we humble ourselves by understanding we are a smaller piece of a much larger effort, but will continue to work hard doing what we do best: to help create a more just world for all.

If you are interested in supporting us to continue our work, please visit here to make a year-end contribution. No donation is too small.

With hope and gratitude,