In our most recent strategic plan, we articulated a desire to re-examine our organization’s core documents. In 2022, NUA refreshed our purpose, mission, and values statements to better reflect our community as we look toward the next 25 years. Providence artist-educator MJ Robinson facilitated this collective effort. Here’s how we did it!
 

CHAPTER 1: Data Gathering
October 2021–April 2022

We found fun and engaging ways to collect thoughts, feelings, and ideas about NUA from stakeholders in our community: students, alumni, staff, board members, former staff, former volunteers, and the general public.

Story-ified surveys
We created sculptures that doubled as receptacles where students could respond to various prompts. Students from NUA Knights at Central High School fed their thoughts to an oversize rubber ducky, while students at NUA’s studio shared their responses with a fuzzy orange feedback monster. Many people also responded to an open online survey told from the perspective of the feedback monster.

 
Group Workshops
MJ facilitated several hands-on workshops with Studio Team Advisory Board (STAB) members, recent alumni, staff members, board members, and the 25th anniversary committee.

 
One-on-one conversations
MJ interviewed several key members of NUA’s community. Most were identified by staff leadership, while some reached out for further discussion after participating in other parts of the process..

 
Reviewing past language
MJ looked at our existing language, including products of our most recent strategic planning process (such as our core practices), with fresh eyes and encouraged others to mark up our previous mission.

 
CHAPTER 2: Data Analysis and Drafting
April 2022–August 2022

 
Co-writing
A team of staff plus one board member collaborated with MJ to review community feedback and draft language, prioritizing current student and recent alumni voices in our writing process. STAB met to revise the working draft.

CHAPTER 3: Approving and Celebrating
September–October 2022

STAB, staff, and board members met in September and voted to officially approve the new purpose, mission, and values. We partied with the new language at the 25th Gala celebration in October!

As part of New Urban Art’s 25th Anniversary, we will be spotlighting current programs and initiatives across the organization. For our sixth month, we are highlighting our Music program with an interview with our Music Resident Artist Mentor, Andres Bonilla, who started his first year at NUA this last fall, in 2021.

This was your first year at NUA. How’s it feel in the music room? What has been surprising?

Andres: It was very surprising the environment, the vibe. I used to be a professor, there were specific hours, a schedule, but here it is an open studio. That was very surprising – to be in a space that I could be with the students in a different way every single day.

The other thing that shocked me from the beginning was the number of different instruments we have –  the synthesizers, the drums, the guitar pedals, the MIDI controllers, it’s awesome. It gives us a lot of opportunities to create, we don’t have the usual limitations, it’s not just one guitar, we have 3, and 3 amplifiers!

Why do you think music is important to students and the studio?

Andres: I think that music is one artform that you used to do with more people. It’s not like writing, for example: usually you write, you paint alone, not always, but often that’s the culture. Music is one where, yes you can do it alone, but usually you need more people to create your music – you need a bass player, a singer, a drummer, it’s a social activity. In the studio, it’s the most social activity. The students that play music in the studio, they work together and they stick together. You can spot them in the rest of the studio because they cluster together with each other–not because they are jerks, but because they learn and express together and it makes them close. I think it’s important to have that space. Sometimes music can be a way to overcome loneliness.

I know that you weren’t here pre-covid, but do you think that loneliness is more pronounced, are students more hesitant to play together now in the pandemic era?

Andres: My feeling when I arrived here was that the students were very isolated, each one in their own space creating their own thing. It was cool to see how the desire to make music made them socialize with others slowly. The desire to create music was stronger than their anxieties. Making music was the path and the tool at the same time: they wanted to play together to create music and so they were socializing and then creating music together. A lot of them came in with their own ideas, but I think they all slowly realized that they needed others to make music and a lot of friendships came out of it.

What is your background in music? What do you think you bring to the music programs at NUA?

Andres: I started to play when I was 13 years old, but my family always played guitars and folk instruments, so I have this Latin American, Colombian, folk background in one hand, and then eventually I picked up electric guitar and started playing Pink Floyd and Metallica and stuff. Then I went to university and studied jazz, salsa, a lot of classical of course. And then I went to Italy to study film scoring and I had this amazing experience that allowed me to compare my Colombian background against a European one. I brought something different than the other students and it helped me reconsider my own work in a new way that I am still exploring, the overlap of those two cultures. That is also what I bring to NUA, my background as an immigrant, as a Latin American musician. At NUA  it’s cool, there’s all this diversity and it’s important for the students to see someone who is not from here, for our immigrant students as well, to help them see they can draw from their own cultures as well, whatever they are.

What are your hopes for music going forward (immediate future)?

Andres: There are some people who seem interested in pursuing a career in music. I want to help them achieve their goals, going to university for composition or learning how to produce their own songs. This last year felt more like an opener: people came here for the first time since the pandemic and they had to figure out how to use the space. Now that they have seen the studio, some of them want to develop more of their own projects. I always love helping people get started with a new instrument and am looking for new tools to assist with that, maybe host some writing or production workshops, etc. 

What are your dreams for music at NUA over the next 25 years (long term/fantasy)?

Andres: I would like there to be different options for mentors within music, a violin mentor, a drum mentor, a cello mentor, with different rooms, and to start working with kids who are maybe a little bit younger since it really helps so much to start with an instrument and then maybe have a festival! There could be so many different kinds of music it would be great.

Any tips/words for students who have never tried music at NUA?

Andres: It’s important to know that talent is just the art of repetition. There is not some magical formula. Music has this particular quality, it is one of the most performatic arts. When someone is playing you see that instant, those two minutes. You think ‘Wow, that person is awesome, so talented, I could not do something so hard,’ but that person was practicing in their room for who knows how many hours per day. Just for fun. If you want to try, if you want to play some music, don’t worry about whether or not it’s good. Expose yourself to new things, ask around for help, play, and don’t worry. This is especially true for singers, people think ‘I don’t have a good voice,’ but that’s an instrument that can be practiced too. There’s also making music on the computer, where you don’t have to be an amazing instrumentalist. It’s another way of expressing yourself that is available now, that anyone can take advantage of. 

As part of New Urban Art’s 25th Anniversary, we will be spotlighting current programs and initiatives across the organization. For our fifth month, we are highlighting our ALAS program with an interview with Addy, our ALAS Coordinator, and Lateefat, a graduating senior who can often be found sitting across from Addy and talking about life after high school.

What is ALAS at NUA?

Addy: It stands for A Life After School and it is NUA’s post-secondary support program. I’m the coordinator and I help students plan for their life after high school: college, job support, learning new trades, etc.

Why is it important for a place like NUA to have ALAS?

Lateefat: A lot of times in school there is a lack of that support, especially at a bigger school where there are 4 counselors for 1,000 students. That’s like 250 students per counselor and that’s a lot for them to do! There’s only so much we can do on our own so it’s nice to have one-on-one support to keep me accountable.

What are some highlights from this last year in the ALAS program?

Lateefat: It helped me not just apply to college, but do so in a way that I was able to apply to all of the colleges I was interested in early-action. It made a scary impossible thing feel more manageable. Senior year is so stressful and I was burnt out from APs and scholarship applications and so many other things. It made me feel like I could actually do it—I think without that support, I wouldn’t have been able to apply to half those things. Sometimes I felt so tired I didn’t want to hold a pencil, but I wanted to make sure for each ALAS meeting that I always had one thing to show so that kept me motivated to keep checking off a few boxes.

Addy: A lot has happened this year. In the fall we had college visits from admissions officers from a variety of different colleges. We had a bunch of workshops on topics like financial aid, scholarships, résumés, and alternatives for students who don’t want college. We also had a series of financial literacy workshops for the first time… we collaborated with the FLY Initiative. A NEACAC grant helped us be able to pay students to attend those workshops which was really great. We’ve also been partnering with Crafting the Future to provide opportunities for our BIPOC students and alums to attend art workshops around the country. We’ve really been trying to boost our alumni support so we’ve got a newsletter going and are keeping in touch with all of them a lot more.

What have you utilized ALAS services for and how has ALAS played a role in your high school life?

Lateefat: I used it mainly to keep me on pace to set those deadlines and hit them. It was like having a gym buddy: this person is going to be there at this time. It helped me get things done a lot earlier and motivated me to do it. Then during school breaks I got to take an actual break instead of stressing on all the stuff I would have been behind on.

Addy: Lateefat was very proactive which was awesome. 

Lateefat: Some of it is so daunting. I heard about the common app a million times but no one actually told me what it was. Addy and I looked through it together and we broke it down into manageable pieces and made it approachable. It’s not that bad! Tedious maybe, but not that bad—especially compared to scholarships haha.

What advice would you give your self-from-last-year?

Lateefat: I would tell myself to slow down a little bit. It did work out, but I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to get things in at the earliest date. Scholarships was another one: researching them before they open would have been helpful because they don’t give you much time to get everything together.

What would you tell students who have not yet utilized ALAS services?

Lateefat: Just do it, even if you might not go to college, Addy can help you do whatever you’re thinking about doing. The financial literacy workshop was a bunch of stuff I didn’t know and it was great. Even one meeting can make a big difference. I feel like not utilizing ALAS is like not picking up $20 off the floor.

Addy: Or $1000 sometimes, haha. ALAS can be for whatever you want it for. It’s really just about you and your goals and whatever you’re trying to navigate in life. I think of myself as a connector so I just want to plug you in to resources or cool programs.

Lateefat, you also participated in the summer College Explorations program with Addy, what was that like?

Lateefat: It helped me break down aspects of colleges I was interested in and make sense of them because there are so many details. I was college-bound crazy, so I watched a lot of videos and it was so much information. 

Is college everything ALAS does?

Addy: No! College is only one part of what we do, we support students who don’t want to go to college or aren’t sure—it might just not be a good fit! We have hosted a variety of career exploration workshops including “Careers in the Arts” which brought in a lot of professionals working in the arts, some of whom have gone to college, some not, to give examples of what different paths after high school might look like.

Lateefat: I would just say if there are any students wondering if they should bother making a meeting with Addy, even if you don’t want to go to college or even know what you want to talk about, it’s so great to talk to someone who isn’t your parents to help you understand what you want, even if it’s just what you want to do right now or this summer. Addy can connect you to painting programs and help you even if that’s not your career. I was into fashion but I was afraid because I also want financial stability and Addy helped me find that there are programs like fashion marketing or business programs that can apply to fashion that made me feel more comfortable pursuing those dreams. And they helped me make my first résumé!

Addy: What’s gratifying for me is seeing how knowledge and education changes people’s lives. Even a small thing can make a big impact.

As part of New Urban Art’s 25th Anniversary, we will be spotlighting current programs and initiatives across the organization. For our third month, we are highlighting our Painting and Drawing program with an interview with our Painting and Drawing Resident Artist Mentors, Dana and Sherly, and a current NUA student that has been very involved in painting this year, Geany.

Why is Painting and Drawing important to students and the studio?

Dana: Painting and drawing is the gateway medium to a greater artistic practice–it’s what people first encounter normally, what they understand as art.

Geany: It’s the most important thing in your life. When you’re little you paint a flower, your mom or your dad or whatever, it makes you feel happy. If we didn’t have that… it makes you feel less stressed. The paper, the brushes, you can make whatever you want.

What’s going on in the studio for you right now?

Sherly: We are coming back from February break and installed all our findings and nature art on our walls. Some students are completing their art that was left before we closed for break, others are starting from scratch. At the same time, I’m encouraging students to exhibit their art for the upcoming show in April.

What are your hopes for Painting and Drawing going forward (immediate future)?

Dana: I wanna go 3D! I’ve been talking with Sherly about wanting to do a papier-mâché workshop, maybe make masks. More sculpture and painting the sculptures, of course.

Sherly: I hope for students to dive into charcoal or ink drawing at least once. Also, we are running out of acrylic paint, haha.

Geany: There’s already everything, you can do it all. You have your hands, the brushes the paint, you can do anything. More brushes, more colors of paint, I guess, high quality stuff. And more canvasses! And more space to store the paint and the paintings.

What are your dreams for painting and drawing at NUA over the next 25 years?

Dana: I mean it would be cool to do another mural somewhere in the city. Maybe a big summer project and a big mural.

Sherly: One of my studio goals is for students to feel encouraged to pin their art on the walls without having mentors to ask them to. I want them to embrace the studio as their space not only for creation but also for personal exhibition. 

There are two mentors in this media area. What does that look like, how does it work?

Dana: It’s pretty fluid, there’s usually a lot of students in our zones so we can spread ourselves a lot more and we both have different areas of expertise which is pretty cool, and Sherly speaks Spanish which is great because we have a lot of students who prefer Spanish, and she has a lot more technical practice in painting and drawing, whereas I’m a little more head in the clouds, conceptual, mixed-media oriented. I’m more of a big ideas first, medium comes after type person. 

Sherly: My approach is more academic. I believe Dana has a more expressive approach. I tend to focus on the practices of color theory, proportional drawing, and the overall elements and principles of art. I find it important to have two different minds work together to mentor because it will remind students that there is no one way of making art; and that art making is really down to personal choice.

How did you start painting or drawing at NUA?

Geany: Everything about art has my attention, and I see all this paint and brushes and I think I need to do something. I did my first painting, I haven’t finished it yet, but I will. I was really excited about it, but I needed to do something else and then another one and another one and I haven’t finished any of them, but I will! I can do a lot of things, I can express my feelings in painting, or a situation. And there’s something about art where I can express myself. If you’re angry, and you paint, then you will do something horrible! That will express your feelings. In music you can hear it too. 

Dana and Sherly, you were both students at NUA before you were mentors, did those experiences influence your mentoring? How so?

Dana: Having an adult to talk to that’s not someone in my family and not someone who is an authority figure has been a big influence. That experience has informed a lot about how I mentor and think about power dynamics—I’m a mentor, not an expert, and I make sure the students know that, and I think that evens the playing field a little. Also, in my experience as a young person, looking back, I was told to do a lot of things and I just listened because I didn’t understand I could be the driving force of my life. So when I mentor, I really emphasize the agency part of our core values and make sure student know they can make decisions on their own and it doesn’t have to do with getting good grades or impressing anyone.   

Sherly: During high school I struggled to focus on a lot of things but when it came to art my focus was on the compositions and details I was creating with painting and drawing. It felt like for the first time I had control of what I wanted to do and make. I figured that I wasn’t the only person that went through that and despite them being a different generation, some youths are also going through the same mental process like I did. I want to guide them through it.

How has painting and drawing at NUA changed since you were students?

Dana: When I was a student there was a little more structure to each medium. I remember coming in and my mentor Julia saying I’ll be here Mondays and Wednesdays doing block printing on the press, which felt more like a drop-in class. Our capacity pre-pandemic was much bigger than when I was a student, so it feels more open. I’m not necessarily being sought out as a painting mentor, but when I see someone interested in painting I approach them, just because there are so many students now and it’s so accessible: you see a canvas and you see a paintbrush and you know what to do, it’s intuitive to want to put those together.

Anything tips for students who have never done painting and drawing at NUA?

Geany: You can do whatever you want, everybody has different eyes and sees things differently.