I will never forget my student, who we'll call Raphael.  Raphael loves to draw and is incredibly naturally talented.  It was hard to get him to focus on his schoolwork sometimes because he would be so focused on his ink pen drawings.  He had never had an art class because his schools didn't have an art department, but he was still one of the best illustrators I've ever seen.  I took an interest in his work, and after showing him some of my own drawings, he was always so excited to show me his most recent image.  After nine months of this, as his birthday was approaching, he clutched the second-hand binder which was falling apart at the seams and stuffed with wrinkled pages of his drawings and timidly asked me, "Ms. Finafrock, do you think you could get me a sketchbook?"  I realized that he had been using scrap pieces of paper or white copy paper from the school whenever he could get his hands on it.  This student deserved true drawing paper; a bound book in which he could keep his drawings, instead of the make-shift portfolio he had been using.  Of course, I got it for him.  Of course, the look on his face is one that will stay with me forever.

Raphael is a student in Memphis who has never had an art class.  He's never had an art class because...

...funding for art education in TN:  0.1%

...schools serving minority students are twice as likely to have no art education at all.

Art helps to develop critical thinking and explore difficult emotions.  Art has been proven to improve school performance, boost self-confidence, and can serve as a bridge across cultural lines.  Art can be an outlet for pain and struggle, or be a celebration of what has been overcome.  Art lives in Memphis, as seen by the many murals around town commemorating various points in Memphian history.  

I want to give Soulsville students the chance to commemorate important moments in their history.  I want to give my students an opportunity explore and explain the issues facing their communities today.  I want to lift up the voices of the next generation and give them the confidence and tools to communicate the change they wish to see in the world.

Help me bring the gift of art to Soulsville.  Please donate to fund our ArtRevival Program.  We are hoping to raise $500 to purchase art supplies for the students; all other resources for the workshops are volunteer.  Students will attend a series of workshops, during which they will develop their artistic talents as well as create a showcase rooted in the conflicts they wish to address.    Your donation will make sure that each student in the program has their own sketchbook to keep.  Even your $1 donation will help bring paints, brushes, canvases, colored pencils, and other art media to students who have never taken an art class before.  

Help us write the next pages of art education in Memphis.  Please share and help revive art education in Soulsville, USA!

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