This year, the theme for the Expressions Program of the Arts was “Yes I Can: The Empowerment of Mastery and Belonging”. Not only is this a title, but rather an encompassment of the services we strive to provide all youth within the HomeBridge Community. Empowerment, mastery, and belonging are skills and characteristics that all youth deserve to experience. Throughout the year, while working within this Expressions theme, our programming focused on empowering youth through mastery of their skills and talents, and also through the belonging they experience in the cohesive and supportive group. The youth embraced this theme and displayed both characteristics of Mastery and Belonging throughout the program.

Mastery was definitely on display during Art classes as the youths created more wearable and functional art, incorporating zippers, buttons and advanced cut patterns challenging their talents with amazing results. Purses, quilts and even “haute couture” button up shirts were produced with the aid of the sewing machines. New levels of detail were achieved and presented in youth’s paintings, drawings and especially wood burning creations, which were highly sought after items at HomeBridge’s Holiday Coffee House.

Belonging held a strong focus in team-based activities as well, encouraging the youths to set aside any differences and work together to create amazing pieces of art. Participation reached impressive levels, as many of the houses had full attendance for classes. The camaraderie inspired by the art classes was a sight to be seen; bringing the young people together and helping new youth assimilate to their surroundings. A mosaic table created by the youth is on full display in the Bridges for Learning classroom. It is a true example of “belonging” and youth working together as they created this amazing piece of art that they can be proud of.

Music Therapy sessions offered a variety of one-on-one and group musical experiences to the youth this year, including: learning instruments, listening to and discussing music, using music technology, learning about musical artists, playing together, and team-building musical games. Friday night “jam sessions” also became a fairly regular occurrence at the Reigh Allen Centre this year. These sessions were part of an 8-week pilot to see if the young people had interest in making this a standing event, since we traditionally only hold two open mic nights per year. These sessions became a great way for the young people to showcase their talents to their friends and caregivers. The relationship between music and teenagers is extraordinary. At no other time in life does music hold such a central role as it does during adolescence. While youth are displaced from their homes, having access to music and musical programming has been essential in contributing to their overall identity formation, resilience, competence and connectedness.

Expressions Program of the Arts

15

Yes I Can: The Empowerment

of Mastery and

Belonging.