Healing Art – ARMAN

Paintbrush Diplomacy and ARMAN (Asylee Refuge Migrant Assistants’ Network) have joined forces to create the ARMAN Healing Art Project, a program with local roots that aims to connect and engage children from Oakland and Richmond, CA in a series of healing art projects.

 

Our Vision and Mission:
ARMAN Healing Art is a project with global vision and local roots that aims to connect and engage children from our local communities in Oakland, CA and Richmond, CA in a series of art projects emphasizing the healing power of the arts.  Our goal is to create fun, creative, safe, and nurturing atmospheres through a series of monthly art projects in which the children will meet in groups facilitated by Paintbrush Diplomacy university interns.  Research and child advocates postulate that exposing children to the healing power of the arts can be a powerful way of dealing with ambient stressors of inner-city life.  Our mission for working with children from our local communities is to expose, engage, and empower them with the healing arts, which comes in many forms such as painting, photography, drawing, theater, music, and sculpture.

  1. We believe it is powerful for children to explore global culture through the lens of art.
  2. We believe art can teach children healthy modes of self-expression.
  3. Above all, we believe that children should have fun and fall in love with art – and our activities are a way to do so!
  4. We are proud of our university student interns and believe that they are excellent role models for children in our local communities.  By interacting with each other and sharing art, we create a sense of community!
How We Do This:
We sponsor local classrooms in Richmond and Oakland by doing monthly art activities.  We provide the art supplies and our projects are facilitated by our university student interns.  Our themed monthly projects expose children to different art mediums and different types of self-expression, ranging from photography, to painting, to drawing, to music, to theater, and more.  We have university student interns on site and one supervising facilitator.
 
Click on the links below to read about our past ARMAN Projects:

Richmond/Oakland Locals at Brushstrokes (March 27, 2011)
Iranian Refugees Skype (December 12, 2010)