Art @ Work: Sandtown is one of several projects in the running for the Robert E. Gard award. This is the inaugural year of the award which recognizes and celebrates an exemplary project from 2015 that has successfully crossed the arts into community life in meaningful measurable ways.

Art @ Work: Sandtown intersects art creation with community development, youth skills development, and social justice. Developed in direct response to the Baltimore Uprising, Art @ Work: Sandtown was a five-week summer mural artist apprenticeship program employing 72 Sandtown-Winchester area youth to create eight murals and a block-long mosaic within their community. The program wove together design thinking, workforce development, economic development, community organizing, and creative expression to empower dozens of young people ages 14-21 to uplift themselves and their neighbors through art. Youth participants do not just create their works in a vacuum, but engage with members of the community from all different backgrounds and experiences and are active participants in community revitalizations efforts. Youth participants are better prepared to enter the workforce and become leaders within their community, with the help of professional development and leadership development coursework that was infused into the program.

Art @ work: Sandtown partners include artists, youth, foundation, community, and faith-based organizations, private business, city government agencies, non-profits and local residents. Project partners include: Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts; Jubilee Arts; City of Baltimore Mayor’s Office of Employment Development; No Boundaries Coalition; the Abell Foundation and many others.

The winner of the 2016 Robert E. Gard Award will be announced at Americans for the Arts 2016 Annual Convention in Boston, MA during the Opening Plenary session on Friday, June 17, 2016, from 12:00 pm – 2:15 pm.