CALDERA ARTS
While in Portland, Oregon I met with Jon Larsen of Caldera Arts, Director of Education and youth worker. Jon was generous with his time (in particular because their annual Gala was a few days later), opening up about his experience, what brought him to Caldera and how this work is compelling and personal.
The Caldera offices are downtown Portland, OR, in the midst of retail shops, a Whole Foods and busy streets but their real work happens in school in Portland and on the other side of the mountains in central Oregon, targeting both urban and rural populations. The school and summer camp programs work with young people in middle school and high school, using access to arts and environmental education to expose mid to high risk young folks to another way to do things- hopefully creating holistic human beings and community (I LOVE THEM SO MUCH).
This is of particular importance to Jon because as a young person he identified with many of the issues these young people are confronted with: violence, poverty, racism and racial identity and finding one's place in a primarily white city with a history (much like many, many, many- I would say all, US cities).
WHAT, PORTLAND IS MOSTLY WHITE? I'M SO SURPRISED.
Okay, okay. I'll halt the sarcasm…for now.
Caldera organizes with the organized- approaches schools and inquire which students would benefit from this programming, which is free to students. Students enrolled stay in the program year after year- until they graduate high school (I LOVE LONG TERM PROGRAMMING).
See below for an overview of Caldera.
Lauraview: Caldera Arts
Organization: Caldera Arts
Website: http://calderaarts.org/caldera/
Mission: Caldera is a catalyst for the transformation of underserved youth through innovative year-round art and environmental programs. We never saw Caldera as a place that creates artists. It is a place that creates community. That inspires confidence. Provides clarity. Caldera is the simple notion that when you show someone the power of their own creativity, it suddenly feels like anything is possible. Whether it's as a camper, a counselor or a resident artist; whether it's through the arts or the environment or the people; Caldera exists as a way to find that creativity, and enable the change it creates.
Programs: Youth program (middle school, high school, summer camp), Artist Residency
Who I talked to: Jon Larsen, Education Director
Who Participates: Young people ages 12-18, underserved communities, mid-high risk young folks, adult artists.
Most excited about: We develop partnerships with schools in Portland and Central Oregon to work with young people who are at risk because of various factors. We recently established a new partnership I am so excited about: we are partnering with a reservation school to work with their young people.
Biggest Challenge: There are so many challenges in this work- much of which surround conversations about race and difference. We have these conversations all of the time in our programming with our young people but also with our staff. Having these conversations with adults can be the most challenging but it's so important.
What I was like “for real? awesome!” about: Caldera has racial, economic and other injustices at the forefront of all of their programming, not only including it as a part of recruitment and programming for young people but also with their staff and artists. These conversations and conflict resolution have a front seat along with their arts and environmental programming rather than presenting difference as something to deal with if/when it comes up.
