In this Issue:

"Creative Cartography" Opens Friday!

New Urban Arts presents "Creative Cartography," an art exhibition featuring interpretive maps by 10 high school students and new series of landscape paintings by scholar in residence, Peter Hocking. The exhibition is on view in the gallery from September 29-October 13, weekdays 3-6pm.

Don't miss the gallery opening held this Friday September 29 from 5-7 pm at 743 Westminster Street. This event is free and open to the public, and will culminate at 6:30 with an audio guided tour by "Mix Tape for the City" through the neighborhood around New Urban Arts. Step outside the studio, walk, listen, and take a closer look at Providence.

Student artwork will feature the "Map of Awesome," on which students have plotted out where youth spend their time in Providence, a map of intersections which plots out points of no return in their lives, and maps which articulate street directions that people in Providence gave to students through on-the-street interviews. Other student maps include a map of dreams, a map of misconceptions that people have of one student, the social network of New Urban Arts through a reinterpretation of tarot cards, one student's point of conception, and gender expectations!

We will see you Friday night!

To see 86 photos from our summer program, go to our Flickr PhotoGallery.

Creative Cartography is made possible through major funding fupport from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, an indepedent state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

*****

Now accepting new high school students for our free after-school arts mentoring programs

All are invited to Open House Week, Tuesday, October 3rd through Friday, October 6th from 2:30pm-5:30 pm at New Urban Arts, 743 Westminster Street. Meet students, artist mentors, and staff to learn more about our programs. Public high school students in Providence are eligible to sign up for our free arts mentoring programs while getting a tour of our studio. Parents of local high school students are encouraged to attend.

New Urban Arts is a nationally recognized program that pairs artist mentors with small groups of high school students. Together, they explore their creative sides, make new friends, develop their artistic skills and a portfolio, and prepare new work for exhibition and presentation.

The program has a flexible schedule and can accommodate students’ busy lives after-school. Arts mentoring groups meet between 3-5 and/or 5-7 for two days each week, Monday through Saturday, between October 3, 2006 and May 19, 2007. New students are eligible to sign up for one mentoring group. High school students can also drop in to the studio to work independently whenever they can.

Through our programs, students can practice photography, digital media, creative writing, fashion design, sculpture, painting and drawing, silkscreening, printmaking, and other media.

Juniors, who participate throughout the academic year, are also eligible to participate in a free college advising program, offered by College Visions, beginning in the spring of 2007.

You are welcome to download a registration form or call Sarah Meyer, Program Director, at 401-751-4556 to have one mailed to you. For more information about New Urban Arts, please contact Sarah by phone or email: sarah@newurbanarts.org.

For school personnel, community partners, and other youth advocates, New Urban Arts now has a Student Recruitment Team available for informational sessions at your school or organization. Alumni of New Urban Arts’ programs will introduce you and your students to New Urban Arts and encourage young people to register. If you are interested in scheduling a visit from us, please contact: Tamara Kaplan, Recruitment and Engagement Coordinator at tamara@newurbanarts.org or 401-751-4556.

*****

2005-06 Program Evaluation Report Now Online

Click here to download our 2005-06 Program Evaluation Report and learn about the impact of this afterschool program last year. Highlights from the Report include:

• Be inspired by the wonderful perspectives of young people who describe the program's positive influence. For example, one alumna, Rebecca, writes, “Without New Urban Arts, I wouldn’t be in the place I am now, leaving behind what I know to pursue something I love – my passion for acting. I have become more brave here…”
  
• Learn how New Urban Arts provides an hour of arts mentoring to each student for simply the cost of a movie ticket. This past year, we offered 800 workshops and over 2,000 arts mentoring hours throughout the academic year for only $90,000. This was made possible by fully matching these cash expenditures with donations of volunteers' time and materials.
  
• Learn how the great partnership with College Visions has resulted in a 91% college acceptance rate for New Urban Arts' seniors.
  
• Discover why 67% of students rated the program “outstanding,” while the remainder rated it “satisfactory;" 86% strongly agreed, and the remainder agreed, that New Urban Arts is a safe and supportive environment; 92% strongly agreed or agreed that they had developed more confidence through participating in New Urban Arts during the past year; 93% strongly agreed or agreed that they had improved as artists; and 98% strongly agreed or agreed that they had built strong, trusting relationships with their peers and artist mentors.

*****

Check out our sister organization, 7Arts, in Queens!

How about the comics of former artist mentor, Fay Ryu?

As always, the ever popular Tiny Showcase.

Learn about exciting cultural events in Rhode Island at www.rifutures.org.

And, students and families at New Urban Arts are thankful this year for College Visions.

Special thanks to White Whale Web Services, designers of www.newurbanarts.org.

Thank you to Citizens Bank and NBC10 for naming us a Champion in Action!

Also, proudly supported by:

New Roots Providence at the Providence Plan
The Providence Shelter for Colored Children
The Dexter Commission
The City of Providence, Department of Art, Culture, and Tourism
The Honorable Mayor David N. Cicilline
Rhode Island State Council on the Arts

And many generous individuals like you.

Feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends. 

About New Urban Arts
New Urban Arts is a nationally recognized arts studio for high school students and emerging artists in Providence, Rhode Island.  Our mission is to build a vital learning community that empowers young people, developing creative practices they can sustain throughout their lives.  We serve 125 high school students and 15 emerging artists through after-school and summer programs each year.