April 17, 2020 | By Amanda Sieradzki
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Like many artists and arts educators who felt the cataclysmic wave of performance and gig cancellations mid-March, I was curious what space art and art-makers might inhabit beyond commercial forms of consumption like television and streaming services.
Enter the Creative Generation.
Creative Generation is an organization founded by scholar and social entrepreneur Jeff M. Poulin. Their mission is to inspire, connect and amplify the work of organizations and individuals, partnering and supporting the work of artists and arts educators internationally. Their name describes “an intergenerational group of people who use their creative capacities to catalyze community change.”
Their newest campaign uses the hashtag, #KeepMakingArt and launched on March 24. The Creative Generation invites youth, educators, artists, parents and organizations to share their social distancing and COVID-19 experiences on social media platforms — and share stories of how they are pioneering new forms of teaching and learning, as well as their personal artistic responses to the pandemic.
Interested participants can register at Creative Generation’s website to receive updates on the campaign and download customizable graphics to use on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn feeds.
So far, the campaign has over 5,000 posts on Instagram alone and more than 200 partners on six continents.
As I scroll my feed, I am touched by the many schools, teachers and individual artists who continue to persevere, even in these strange circumstances — and who share their work and art-making methods.
Check out the four organizations highlighted below that have joined the campaign as partners. Perhaps their efforts can serve as inspiration for local schools, organizations and artists to get involved and #keepmakingart.
Arts Education Partnership
Arts Education Partnership is a national network of more than 100 organizations dedicated to advancing arts education.
They are sharing Creative Generation’s work and have published stories from across the nation about students’ distance learning experiences.
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Jubafest Initative
The Jubafest Initative (JI) is a cultural organization operating in Juba, South Sudan. In conjunction with UNESCO’s ResiliArt movement, they are soliciting messages of creative resilience across mediums.
Southern Sudanese musicians have recorded, produced and shared songs to inform their community about the virus.
The Art Effect
The Art Effect provides youth programming in visual and media arts education. Using the #KeepMakingArt hashtag, they are posting weekly “art challenges” that families and artists alike can use to spark new projects at home.
This past week asked participants to make a collage in a single color that captures their current mood.
Arts Corps
Arts Corps provides resources in arts education through culturally engaging learning experiences.
They are posting weekly craft project lessons led by arts educators to help supplement arts curriculums at home.
More information on the #KeepMakingArt campaign can be found here
creative-generation.org/keepmakingart
Want to participate? Register for more information here
creative-generation.org/keepmakingart-registration
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