Spoil Me Fashion Giving Back
Spoil Me Fashion gives back by collaborating with charities that better the lives of those in need, both locally and globally.
During the month of February 2012, we will be donating a portion of our proceeds to ArtStart, an organization whose mission is to improve the lives of homeless children living in New York City through the use of Art.
Read Mel's interview with Johanna De Los Santos, ArtStart's Executive Director.
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In the Spring of 1991, a handful of artists got together with homeless kids to make art in New York City. Over the next twenty years, ART START has become an award-winning, nationally recognized model for using the creative arts to transform young, at-risk lives. ART START kids live in city shelters, on the streets, are involved in court cases, or surviving with parents in crisis. Through ART START’s daily creative arts workshops taking place inside some of the city’s loneliest places, at-risk youth collaborate with local teaching artists and educators who donate their time and guidance to nurture the youth’s creativity and talents. ART START uses a student-centered approach to education. Our workshops instill in our youth the confidence to appreciate who they already are and what they innately have to offer the world; then, to think critically, ask important questions, and pursue meaningful opportunities in life – against all odds. Our creative workshops are structured to support consistency, individualized attention, and provide direction to youth going through a time of disabling transition. While encouraging personal development on many levels, by using art and music projects and focusing on the outlet for expression, kids are free to build trusting relationships with our teaching artists naturally, learning to open up and bond in ways not possible through the social service or traditional education model. And because ART START comes to the youth, both in terms of location and circumstance, we’re able to reach them despite the physical and psychological walls built to keep them closed off from the rest of the world. Though they face many obstacles, our kids have dreams that far surpass their circumstances. They yearn to be participants and make meaningful contributions. ART START teaches kids how to survive their own lives with confidence, creativity and hope, and transform a time of instability and transition into a time for personal growth and development. Visit ArtStart's website to learn more about their mission: http://art-start.org |  |
