Art as a Tool for Social Change

Directly from our dear friend and awesome New Madrid supporter/dancer/crowd-hyper, Marissa A. Gutiérrez-Vicario:

Launched this year, Art and Resistance Through Education (ARTE) is For-Justice Organization that empowers traditionally disadvantaged young people with human rights literacy and life skills through volunteer hip-hop mural projects, fostering leadership opportunities to train others.

For ARTE's first project, we have connected high school students at the Advocacy Lab and a professional muralist involved with Subway Art History to help bring awareness to the human rights violation of sexual trafficking by supporting the important efforts of the Somaly Mam Foundation.

This will be accomplished by working with the youth to paint a mural in the South Bronx community - the culminating event of the students' year-long human rights campaign, which has focused on the global plight of young boys and girls who are sexually trafficked – a form of modern-day slavery – and will highlight the work of Somaly Mam, Cambodian human rights activist and trafficking survivor and the Somaly Mam Foundation.

If you are interested in helping empower young people to use art as a tool for social change and to inspire them to believe that they can make a difference in their communities and around the world, please consider donating before June 6th: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1008622957/bronx-youth-paint-mural-on-human-trafficking