Deep South Miami-Dade, Florida

 

ASTEP at Art-in-Action

ASTEP leads Art-in-Action, a six-week arts education and empowerment summer camp that enables south Miami/Dade youth to build on their potential and become leaders in their community. ASTEP partners with enFAMILIA, a community organization that builds healthy family relationships among the immigrant, migrant, and farm worker communities of south Florida.

ASTEP and enFAMILIA have worked together to develop a curriculum model that positively impacts the lives of the young participants beyond their time in the program. The common goal is to empower the youth of Deep South Dade with communication and leadership skills that will help them transcend the barriers they face. In addition, Art-in-Action focuses on the following objectives:

A team of 17-21 volunteer artists design the curriculum and lead the camps, which consist of performing and visual art workshops. Six guest artists take part in portions of the program to enhance the youth’s exposure to the arts. The culmination of each camp session is a final performance of works presented by the students for the community.

Art-in-Action provides dance, drama, music, creative writing, and visual art workshops that not only engage youth in the joy of creating art, but also enable them to develop critical life skills, including communication and teamwork. The camp takes place at the Everglades Community Association, a housing and community development corporation serving rural poor, migrant, and seasonal farm workers. For many of the youth, Art-in-Action is their first exposure to the arts and a rare opportunity for them to develop their own creativity.

In addition, Art-in-Action promotes positive social dialogue across boundaries of race, class, gender, and culture and focuses on specific social issues such as gender equality, substance abuse and gang violence prevention, and teen pregnancy awareness.

+ Visit Get Involved to learn more about becoming an ASTEP Volunteer Artist!

“We start the day together. First thing in the morning, the entire community gathers in one space, students and volunteers alike, so that we can check in with each other and start the day on common ground. We shake off our sleepiness with some music and games, then we dive in. It’s an incredible thing to be around so many people creating in one place — a volunteer with a camera whizzes past you, filming a documentary.

Upstairs, there’s a music student practicing violin in the walkway. Another student is still, sketching a plant in the courtyard. At the end of the day, we come together again as a community to recap our days and record any new idea or interesting conversation we might have had, students maybe share some new creations with each other, and then we close it all off in one triumphant voice — singing a song we all wrote together and one that, by the end of camp, everyone knows by heart.”

- Alejandro Rodriguez, ASTEP Volunteer Artist, 2006-present

 

enFAMILIA, an established community organization dedicated to building healthy family relationships through parenting education and abuse prevention programs while promoting cross-cultural dialogue for the communities of Homestead, Florida. enFAMILIA’s major programs and workshops focus on effective parenting skills training, domestic violence and child abuse prevention, promoting responsible fatherhood, marriage preparation and enrichment, and helping parents prepare their children to succeed in school. Throughout Art-in-Action, enFAMILIA provides trained counselors and support workshops for the children and their families while ASTEP provides the volunteer artist educators who help children develop their capacity for self-expression. www.enfamiliainc.org