text: Congratulations 2020 Art Advocacy Recipients
  Namta thanks the very experienced Judges who donated their time and looked at all the applicants with their hearts.
  We wish much success with all the 2020 Applicants programs and ideas!
  Thank you 2020 Art Advocacy Grant Supporters!
  Creative Enterprise Zone (CEZ)
  Angela Casselton
  Director of the Chroma Zone Mural & Art Festival • Creative Enterprise Zone (CEZ)
  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Chroma Zone Mural & Art Festival, an annual event produced by the Creative Enterprise Zone (CEZ) in partnership with Forecast Public Art, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, was cancelled for 2020. In September 2019 they created 12 murals in 8 days, and the impact on the neighborhood was profound. Not only did the mural festival help to raise the visibility of a highly creative community, it cemented our identity, brought in outside visitors and contributed to the beauty, safety, walkability, and connectivity of their community.
  While they are disappointed that they can't celebrate together again this fall, they are more concerned about the welfare of our many talented local mural artists that have lost work and opportunities due to the virus and the economic downturn is taking its toll. To help, they came up with a plan to hire 4 artists/teams to paint in the CEZ this Summer/Fall, and they want to hire even more artists/teams to add between 1 to 4 more medium size in Fall 2020.
  How this Project Supports Public Art
  The goals of the CEZ Summer Mural Project is to employ talented local muralists to complete murals in the CEZ outside of the formal festival, to make sure artists get badly needed support both economically and creatively. These are not themed commissions but rather outdoor canvases for individual artists to express their unique voices, with special focus on opportunities for IBPOC artists. Secondary goals include those of the festival - to continue to show outside the creativity happening inside our maker spaces, contribute to the vibrancy of the neighborhood.
  Ashleigh Goforth
  $3,000 Grant
  Through art therapy techniques such as drawing and painting, Veterans Alternative is providing Veterans with a unique opportunity to overcome and understand the mental health issues they face due to military service. Facilitated by a Registered Art Therapist (ATR), participants can create whatever they want and examples of previously created artwork includes face masks, drawings and paintings. The projects are created using a variety of recycled materials and other items found in nature, in addition to acrylic paints, markers and pencils. Their ATR helps participants choose the form of art therapy they are most interested in and encourages them to utilize the creative process to explore their own thoughts, sensations and feelings. The sessions focus on providing participants with opportunities for self-expression and enhanced stress/anxiety reduction, in addition to increasing their self-esteem and reactivating positive emotions.
  Veterans Alternative's mission is centered on providing alternative therapies because traditional methods are not always able to access the areas of the brain that need healing, or there are not words that can explain what our Veterans have experienced from the traumas of war, as it integrates psychotherapeutic techniques with the creative process to improve mental health and well-being among this population.
  How this Program Supports Art Therapy for The Military and Veterans
  This organization has a goal of providing a total of 150 art therapy sessions to 50 Veterans (3 sessions each), at no cost to the Veterans, and also to use art therapy to promote a creative process that provides Veterans with new tools to overcome mental health issues related to post-traumatic stress. When Veterans go through this type of healing process with art therapy, Veterans Alternative is there to provide them with the support they need to live a better quality of life after experiencing the traumas of war.