Program News 2007
Free Arts Poetry Slam
Over the past few years Good Shepherd’s residential programs have enjoyed a partnership with Free Arts NYC, an organization dedicated to helping at-risk children and youth express themselves through creative projects. Regular ‘Free Arts Days’ have given our young people a chance to try their hands at a variety of artistic endeavors, most recently poetry as both a visual and performance art.
The POLO Ralph Lauren Foundation sponsored the Free Arts Poetry Slam attended by nearly sixty of our residential youth. In the morning, volunteer mentors from Ralph Lauren and special guest Jason Bell of the NY Giants paired off with the young people to create poetry-themed artwork, including ‘Wooden Word Sculptures’, magnetic poetry displays and ‘Envelope Books’ to hold the poetry written later in the day. After lunch, poets and educators for Urban Word NYC led a poetry writing and performance workshop. Each youth got to perform their own work in the poetry slam MC’d by spoken word artist Lemon, a Brooklyn native who participated in Good Shepherd programs as a youth.
The young people had high praise for the volunteers and the activities. “I thought my mentor was awesome,” said 17 year-old Lisa, “she was really cool, and I liked working with her.” Bryan, 16, was excited to have worked with an NFL player, and also said that making the projects made him feel better about being in an NSD residence. Another attendee, 14 year-old Joy credited the event with snapping her out of a bad mood, “because everything was so fun it made me happy.
May 21, 2007
