Empowering a Creative Voice for Flint Youth
Some look at the city of Flint and see only urban blight, a city drained of its soul. Others, like Natasha Thomas-Jackson, Executive Director of RAISE IT UP! Youth Arts and Awareness, see a city alive with creativity, a community on the brink of rediscovering its voice. Her non-profit was founded to ensure that the creativity and collective voices of the youth in her hometown are discovered, nurtured and expressed.
“We want kids to understand the systematic aspects of social change,” said Thomas-Jackson, “and how their art really can affect change in their community.”
RAISE IT UP!, (RIU) launched in 2009 with funding from the Ruth Mott Foundation in Flint and support from LiNK Community Arts, an organization creating opportunities for artists to be and become active change agents in greater Flint.
“You can be an artist in many different ways,” said Thomas-Jackson, “but your art can also provide creative solutions for the neighborhood. The kids arrive wanting to do poetry, or dance, or music. But they soon realize that they can use their art not just for their own personal growth, but also apply it to their community. Art is activism.”