I spent most of my teenage years hiding inside my bedroom, sleeping away the day, doodling in boredom, only leaving the house to take part in questionable activities, with no real plan for my future. I had a strong desire to be part of something, to connect with the people around me, and I desperately wanted to feel deep fulfillment. I didn't find anything like this until years later in college, finally beginning to figure out things about myself and the world around me I wished I had learned years ago. I felt very frustrated. I had so much passion and no outlet. And I could see this pattern repeating in kids just like me going through the same situation.
I joined the team at Springville Center for the Arts in 2021 as an intern. I got to be involved in the first year of a program called the Public Art Corps: a job-readiness program designed to give teenagers in our rural area a positive and productive outlet. While technically I am their boss, or supervisor, I see myself as more of a mentor in how I work with the kids. I am responsible for teaching them the skills they need for the job, including painting, designing, and general proper use of mural materials. But I also make it a point to teach them other, arguably more important, skills. In PAC, it is essential that the kids are good at communication and are responsible. Through painting murals, I get to teach the teens teamwork and independence. They are put in situations where they get to make decisions about how our murals will look, how we will execute them, who should do what task. They end the summer knowing each step in the mural process, and feel confident in their work. It’s also extremely important to me that the kids have a fun and safe space to go to outside of their home. I believe that being a teenager is hard enough, especially in an area that does not have many healthy outlets for kids their age. I try to make PAC not only a summer job, but a place where they can be themselves, be around friends, laugh, and have a sense of purpose. It has become my favorite part of what I do. Every summer I look forward to meeting a new group of teenagers who I see myself in, full of energy and curiosity, and I feel extremely privileged that I get to give them an outlet for it.
On top of the Public Art Corps, I am involved in many other public-focused events and programs with Springville Center for the Arts. This includes running a public-facing storefront with my coworker Max Collins called "The Lab," where we invite our community inside to gauge what they want to see happening in their town so we can help make it happen. And beyond that, from events like Art Crawl, Party on Pearl, and Bootleg Soiree that attract hundreds of people to a little rural town, to hosting intimate workshops for all ages that go into the technicalities of a particular art skill, I try to find a way to connect with my community in every way.
Below is just a glimpse into what the beautiful mayhem of community work looks like for me!
I joined the team at Springville Center for the Arts in 2021 as an intern. I got to be involved in the first year of a program called the Public Art Corps: a job-readiness program designed to give teenagers in our rural area a positive and productive outlet. While technically I am their boss, or supervisor, I see myself as more of a mentor in how I work with the kids. I am responsible for teaching them the skills they need for the job, including painting, designing, and general proper use of mural materials. But I also make it a point to teach them other, arguably more important, skills. In PAC, it is essential that the kids are good at communication and are responsible. Through painting murals, I get to teach the teens teamwork and independence. They are put in situations where they get to make decisions about how our murals will look, how we will execute them, who should do what task. They end the summer knowing each step in the mural process, and feel confident in their work. It’s also extremely important to me that the kids have a fun and safe space to go to outside of their home. I believe that being a teenager is hard enough, especially in an area that does not have many healthy outlets for kids their age. I try to make PAC not only a summer job, but a place where they can be themselves, be around friends, laugh, and have a sense of purpose. It has become my favorite part of what I do. Every summer I look forward to meeting a new group of teenagers who I see myself in, full of energy and curiosity, and I feel extremely privileged that I get to give them an outlet for it.
On top of the Public Art Corps, I am involved in many other public-focused events and programs with Springville Center for the Arts. This includes running a public-facing storefront with my coworker Max Collins called "The Lab," where we invite our community inside to gauge what they want to see happening in their town so we can help make it happen. And beyond that, from events like Art Crawl, Party on Pearl, and Bootleg Soiree that attract hundreds of people to a little rural town, to hosting intimate workshops for all ages that go into the technicalities of a particular art skill, I try to find a way to connect with my community in every way.
Below is just a glimpse into what the beautiful mayhem of community work looks like for me!
