AFH’s central program, the Youth Arts Enterprise, is a paid apprenticeship and leadership program employing urban teens. Youth are partnered in small groups with professional artists, designers and young artist mentors to create, market and sell fine art and design services. With fully equipped, staffed studios in Painting/Murals, Sculpture/Industrial Design, Screen-Printing, Graphic Design, Digital Media, and Photography/Web Design, youth and mentors collaborate on creative projects, many specifically commissioned by clients. In the process, young artists develop entrepreneurial skills as they participate in planning, product development, outreach and marketing of projects. The paid apprentices meet during their out-of-school time: Tuesday through Thursday from 3:00-6:00PM during the school year, and Monday through Friday from 12:00-5:30PM during the summer.

AFH projects require apprentices to listen and respond to client needs, giving the teens an introduction to the professional world. They have positive and encouraging interactions with adults who value their work and appreciate their contributions. Like any other job, they are expected to be punctual, treat the work seriously and function as team members. Unlike most jobs available to teens, young people are directly involved in client negotiations and meetings.

Artists For Humanity is based on a business model with a focus on the creative process as well as the end product.  It is through this process that all AFH apprentices experience the courage of their convictions, trust in their individuality and the free thinking that is endemic to building a cultured society. In essence, each participant’s creative work represents an opportunity to have a voice. Public exhibition and sale of their artwork continues the dialogue. Since its inception, AFH has earned over $5 million in program income through the sale of young people’s fine art and graphic art services, and additional services facilitated by the EpiCenter.

 

Artists For Humanity is structured to encourage and guide young people to earn respect. We mentor our participants to strive to meet high expectations, take on responsibility, and commit to making an important contribution through their work. They see that by disciplining themselves, and taking the work seriously, they can make tangible progress. That progress gives them the taste for success. To ensure that all levels of participants have a meaningful interaction at AFH, we have organized the Youth Arts enterprise to reflect a real-world job-seeking environment. Apprentices pass through the following stages:

  • Open House – AFH hosts bi-weekly orientations at the AFH EpiCenter for interested youth. This hour long introduction provides youth with a powerful glimpse into our program along with the responsibilities and benefits of working here. They see peers at work, collaborating with adults and in positions of respect.
  • Orientation – When positions become available, AFH contacts all youth who have attended orientation, and brings them in for a formal overview of employment requirements at AFH. At this point, teens may sign up for an interview.
  • Application and Interview – Teens are asked to carefully consider their intentions and interest in the program, come in for a meeting and discuss these and other questions presented by a peer interviewer.
  • Youth in Training – Space provided, all interested youth are accepted into a 72-hour volunteer training program in painting. Upon completion, their performance is evaluated and they are hired as a Paid Apprentice. Artistic talent is not a pre-requisite for employment, as this can be developed and refined with practice.
  • Paid Apprenticeship – Once hired for employment, apprentices can opt to continue working in painting or, depending on availability, progress to another AFH studio.
  • Youth Leadership – Youth who have demonstrated significant commitment and have been involved in the Arts Micro-enterprise for at least two years may be selected to become Youth Leaders. They are given the opportunity to work on special projects and take on greater leadership roles, helping to interview, train, and acclimate new program participants. On average, 20% of participants are in the Youth Leadership program.

AFH studios include:

  • Painting – Painting introduces new apprentices to AFH and provides a solid foundation for all other artistic media, allowing youth to explore their identity and larger societal role in ways most have not previously experienced. Professional artist mentors teach youth the basics in drawing, painting, composition, design, and color theory. This training includes concepts such as drawing to scale, three-dimensional rendering on a two-dimensional surface, and the creation of perspective using vanishing points, building on the basic mathematics that teens learn in high school. Teens create work for exhibition, client commissions, and collaborative murals.
  • Mural Production – Working closely with clients, participants develop drawing and painting skills for public art, banners/advertising and large-scale painting projects. Using a blueprint, reading an architect’s scale ruler, and interpreting a designer’s drawing are some of the skills learned in order to transfer designs from paper to walls, backdrops, banners and other architectural settings.
  • Sculpture/Industrial Design – Participants have the opportunity to explore three-dimensional construction arts. Concepts are taken from sketch, to drawing, to model, to full execution. Participants are trained on computer-aided drafting programs and work hands-on conducting trials with materials to understand their properties and applicability to the project. Through demonstrations, innovation and experimentation, they learn to work with a variety of fine art and industrial tools and materials. AFH’s Sculpture/ID is renowned for fabricating unique bike-racks, outdoor signage, eco-friendly furniture and more – infusing the zest and unpredictability inherent in young people “making things.” Recently, Sculpture/Industrial Design released a line of creative and playful bike racks and developed several models and custom designs for ‘ReVision’, a line of sustainable furniture composed of junk-mail and magazines cast in an eco-friendly resin, and set on a steel structure. They have regular commissions for sale and exhibition of their contemporary art and design.
  • Photography – Apprentices learn fine art, documentary and commercial photography in both traditional and digital platforms. Through portraiture, product photography and computer-aided design projects, teens learn to market their own commercial services. Teens learn camera controls, create specialized lighting environments and backdrops, process black and white prints, create digital images for design clients, mount prints for exhibitions, collaborate on the Boston Globe Foundation’s Teens in Print web and print editions, train on the technical and artistic aspects of preparing photographs for the web, contribute all images to the website and larger digital graphic initiatives, and catalog AFH’s vast library of paintings.
  • Graphic Design – Apprentices learn the fundamentals of design, typography, layout, color systems, pre-press production for offset-, digital-, large format- and screen-printing, and new media/electronic imaging. They develop free-hand illustration skills and use the full range of software in the Adobe Suite. With these skills, they create expressive signage, graphic wallpaper/murals, logos, CD covers, graphics for apparel, brand identity, product labels, and book illustration. Apprentices work with supervising artists on custom design commissions for business clients and develop their own design trademarks.
  • Motion Graphics – Motion graphics are an integral part of video and graphic design today. Through this opportunity teens build on skills learned in graphics, and train on Adobe After-Effects to draw movies, add animation to live footage, design images and set them into motion. Motion Graphics offers clients of the Arts Micro-enterprise new options for their web and video needs.
  • Web Design – Advanced digital graphic apprentices train in web design and development. Web design speaks to both an audience that is actively seeking information and one that has happened upon a site by chance. It is necessary to offer multiple points of entry and master the logic behind technical functions and aesthetic options. Teens in web design work one-on-one with a mentor to navigate this multi-faceted creative media. Apprentice and mentor work together to meet client needs and maintain an ongoing, solution-based relationship.
  • Video – Teens train in scripting and storyboarding, camera work, sound engineering, graphic design, digital editing, web-readiness, and video production. Apprentices produce personal, documentary, and entrepreneurial pieces, and have tackled numerous projects for clients looking to capture an inherently youthful perspective through their video commissions. Shorts are available through the AFH website and our customized YouTube page (found at: http://www.youtube.com/user/AFHBoston).