Riverzedge Arts

Civic and Social OrganizationsRhode Island, United States11-50 Employees

Riverzedge Arts is a nationally-awarded 501 (c) 3 non-profit in Woonsocket, RI, dedicated to creating change through art. Youth Development Our well-known youth programs focus on building the full range of 21st century skills encompassed in the acronym STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math). These same subjects might lack appeal in the classroom, but at Riverzedge Arts, they become the tools that let our youth express their creativity and design their own futures in our art- and design-based micro-enterprise studios. In 2009, our Mobile Studio brought the Riverzedge Arts experience to hundreds of K-12 students across the state of Rhode Island. The core concept behind our youth development work is that by bringing underserved, under-resourced youth into a professional, high-expectations environment that modeled a lifestyle of creative expression, disciplined practice and self-reliance, they could envision themselves leading this lifestyle and discover pathways to reach it. We helped them see that these pathways would necessarily require high school graduation and almost always college. And then we gave them the tools and, more importantly, the support, to make it happen. Transforming Education When we started Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) Woonsocket in 2011, we began applying creative techniques to education, opening alternative pathways to academic success for over 100 Woonsocket teens annually. In 2012, our instance of the renowned Parent Leadership Training Initiative (PLTI) enlisted focused, motivated parents in transforming education in Woonsocket. Community and Economic Development Through our years-long collaborations with community partners and Woonsocket municipal government, the city itself has become our canvas. We play a leading role in major placemaking and economic development initiatives, always putting the arts and creativity in the center of transformational process as well as the transformed product.

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