To download the full 2008 Program Evaluation, click here.
To download the full 2007 Program Evaluation, click here.
Executive Summary
We all had to step up, we were not going to let this place fail. New Urban Arts staff member at year-end retreat
New Urban Arts is a creative and inclusive arts community driven by the leadership of Providence public high school students and emerging artists. Our mission is to empower young people as artists and leaders to develop a creative practice they can sustain throughout their lives.
We find ourselves at a crossroads following a successful leadership transition. In June 2007, New Urban Arts faced a significant challenge, the resignation of its founder and Executive Director. Tyler Denmead pioneered the concept of Arts Mentoring and was a leading figure in the Providence arts, education and nonprofit communities. New Urban Arts' growth from 1997 to 2007 paralleled the rise of many innovative youth arts organizations, the development of its Westminster street location into a busy street with many thriving businesses, and Providence's wider emergence as a nationally renown arts and cultural destination.As a community organization that reflected the personality and ambitions of its founder, there was understandable concern that the transition would lead to a dip in performance. From June 2007 to February 2008 former Program Director Tamara Kaplan served on a part-time basis as the interim Executive Director while a search committee comprised of students, staff, past and current board members conducted a national search for a new Executive Director. Volunteers, artist mentors, staff, board members and students all stretched into new roles and responsibilities to ensure the continued success of New Urban Arts. Describing that time, one staff member said; “we all had to step up, we were not going to let this place fail.”
Despite the challenges, by many measures 2007 to 2008 was the most successful year in New Urban Arts' history. Individual giving increased from $55,000 in 2007 to $70,000. New Urban Arts reached record highs in student enrollment and participation in its after-school Youth Mentorship program. Many successful new initiatives were launched including a well-attended public conversation series, an academic tutoring program, and the Arts Mentoring Fellowship, an initiative to support New Urban Arts' corps of volunteer artist mentors. Many funders continued to support New Urban Arts, expressing their confidence in the organization's transition. In 2008, New Urban Arts, for the fifth time, was named one of the 50 premier arts and youth development programs in the country by the President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities.
Now, New Urban Arts finds itself in a position of strength. With new board and executive leadership, clarity around our program, mission and values, a multi-year financial commitment from the RI Department of Education and the confidence of having weathered the greatest transition in our history, we are in an ideal position to think ambitiously about the greater impact we want to have outside of our walls.
This evaluation report documents what we have learned about our impact in the last program year (2007-08), along with our plans for strengthening our programs next year and beyond. It focuses on the evaluation of our Youth Mentorship Program during the 2007-08 academic year, along with public events and exhibitions.
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