What makes arts education so powerful, is that it gives young people more capacity to tell their stories and express their opinions.
It can be difficult to explain our thinking about the big issues with words alone. This is why there are so many songs and poems about love. “Love” is such big concept, we need to use art to properly express it. This may be true of all the core values of Hip Hop. Big ideas like “Love,” “Unity,” “Peace,” and “Having Fun” are best communicated through the arts.
The Where Art Lives program focuses on helping young people express themselves through the visual arts. We encourage our students to contact other organizations to learn how to express themselves through other art forms.
The Where Art Lives program was created by San Francisco Public Works and the San Francisco Arts Commission, at the urging of the Graffiti Advisory Board, to prevent destructive vandalism. The city has estimated that it spends $20 million every year cleaning and covering up instances where people paint on public and private property without permission. Now, our funding comes from a special “anti-tagging” grant.
We know that people growing up in San Francisco have great pride in their city. They also are full of ideas and creativity. The Where Art Lives program is dedicated to helping these young people express those ideas and have space for their creativity.
We want everyone to know what the city’s policies and laws are around art in public places, and we encourage discussion and ideas about whether those rules should be changed.
