In May, Erie Arts & Culture in partnership with the County Executive Kathy Dahlkemper and the Erie County Department of Health, launched “Feel Your Feelings Fridays,” an effort that includes two participatory initiatives to promote mental wellness. The initiatives consist of a virtual youth art exhibit and a 30-day adult journaling challenge.
Updates - 7/7/20:
Thank you to everyone who participated in our Give Rise to Your Feelings journalling challenge! This has now concluded. All 30 prompts are included on our social media channels if you would like to review them. We hope this helped you explore and feel your feelings. Our Virtual Youth Gallery portion is still ongoing! Please see the details below.
Virtual Youth Gallery: DEADLINE EXTENDED
This summer has been unlike any other, especially for our youth. We've extended our submission deadline until the end of August! That means, from now until August 31, students may submit their literary, performing, or visual artwork by email at any time. We will feature those works in our gallery as we receive them. This is a great way to share student artwork with friends, family, and all of Erie!
Youth are asked to create artwork in response to one question, “How are you feeling?” Youth can use any artistic discipline, medium, or material to respond. Erie Arts & Culture is requesting that artwork created in response to the question be submitted to the agency digitally. All Erie County Students grades K-12 are welcomed to participate!
Call for entries: Now - August 31, 2020
Below are instructional videos to help students get started!
To provide some guidance and inspiration, Erie-based artists Tom Ferraro (painter), Carla Hughes (dancer), and Cee Williams (poet) contributed videos showcasing their artistic disciplines and how they can be used to express emotions or communicate feelings.
Performing Arts Tips with Carla Hughes
Literary Art Example with Cee Williams
Visual Art Example with Tom Ferraro
Guidelines:
The categories include Visual, Performing, and Literary Arts.
Please submit artwork to [email protected].
Submissions will be categorized and published by Elementary, Middle, and High School tiers.
Please download and distribute the following pdf for additional tips and technical guidelines:
Give Rise To Your Feelings:
30 days of journaling prompts
The second initiative was a journaling project for adults called “Give Rise To Your Feelings.” Kristen Weeks, a local artist and singer, wrote 30-days of creative prompts. Jessica Annunziata, an Erie-based thespian, recorded video directives for each prompt.
Thank you to everyone who participated!
Funding for New Horizons is provided in part by the Erie Community Foundation.
