Since, the organization has grown to include poetry and arts workshops, weekly poetry sessions and open-mics; and work with residential treatment centers, day treatment programs, probation departments, high schools, youth groups and day camps.

In this podcast, Thorn talks about the therapeutic power of words and the deep healing they provide during the organization’s workshops.

.

Bonus track: “The Spider Story”

Executive Director Catherine O’Neill Thorn discusses the benefits of right-brained access through therapeutic poetry and how it differs from traditional therapy.

Listen to the “The Spider Story” HERE

Shop at 10,000 Villages between 5-8pm on November 17 and 15% of your purchase will go to support AfA programs.

What’s more, 10,000 Villages is a super-cool organization. The are one of the world’s largest fair trade organizations. They work to help better the lives of tens of thousands of artisans in 38 countries.

The handmade items at 10,00 Villages are beautiful, quality products handcrafted by artisans in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Buy someone you love a heartfelt, handmade gift and pay the thought forward.

AfA representatives will be on hand, along with some of their youth poets. Come share the love.

The “Running of the Gays” wasbe held in partnership with Ed Gillespieof G3 & Noelle Benjamin of Salon Noelle on Saturday Sept. 26th.

The 3-block ‘marathon’ in heels was held to fund creative programs for LGBTQ youth. Click HERE for more information.

On Saturday Sept 11 Art from Ashes held it’s Hope for Youth Celebration at Chez 4001 in the Highlands Neighborhood. AfA supporters, volunteers, and performers were out in in full force Saturday night for an evening of music, poetry, and celebration of youth.

The Hope For Youth party was presented by Art from Ashes and the Dylan Thomas Society.

The evening began with Beatles cover artist Evan Sitchler on acoustic guitar and ukulele.

Volunteer Coordinator Nick Orf emceed the event and read from some of the powerful poetry created by youth at Art from Ashes workshops. He invited three poets to the mic: Denver Poet Laureate Chris Ransick, AfA’s own spoken word and hip-hop artist Chance Two Crow, and world renowned spoken word artist Lucifury.

Chris Ransick: Denver Poet Laureate

Chris Ransick, who served as Denver’s Poet Laureate from 2006-2010, shared some words of wisdom for young poets, inspiring them to be the protectors of what he calls “the oldest form of storytelling.” Chris offered his ‘blessing’ for the next generation of poets, citing the responsibility to reflect, inspire, and teach using the power of words.

Chris’ newest book of poetry is Asleep Beneath the Hill of Dreams.

Chance Two Crow: Youth Representative on the AfA Board of Directors

Chance Two Crow’s poetry is a powerful representation of his experience on the streets of Denver and of his continuing growth as an AfA volunteer and spoken word artist. Chance shared his reflective poetry which stands as a tribute to the formative power of words and the success of the Art from Ashes experience.

Chance performed his poem ‘The Difference,” one of the pieces from a studio album he is currently working on with help from Flobot’s Jonny 5.

Lucifury: Spoken Word Artist, ranked 5th in the world

Listening to performance poet Lucifury is an experience in itself. Lucifury is a polished poet who weaves words into story with his powerful voice and deliberate movement.

Lucifury says, “My life is a massive work of art. That is all that someone like me understands how to do. While I create, you participate, and vice-versa.” (lucifurypoetic)

He inspired the crowd with “So Dance” before emcee Nick Orf ended the night’s readings with more AfA youth poetry.

When Evan Stichler took the stage again, some in the crowd seemed still moved by Lucifury’s poetry; they danced.

AfA’s next event, the Sept. 26th “Running of the Gays,” will be held in partnership with Ed Gillespie of G3 & Noelle Benjamin of Salon Noelle

The 3-block ‘marathon’ in heels will be held to fund creative programs for LGBTQ youth. Click HERE for more information.

"The Spot" click the photo to go inside

A new AfA video short by Rachel Julkowski highlights The Phoenix RisingYouth Empowerment Program .

The Phoenix Rising Program holds open workshops every Tuesday at The Spot Urban Peak.

Watch the video HERE

Part one explores the legacy left in stone by Eugene Field, Thomas Hornsby Ferril, and Jack Kerouac.

To see Inside Art from Ashes Denver Poetry landmarks video tour click HERE

Eugene Field with 'Wynken, Blynken & Nod'

Eugene Field – poet, editor, satirist, general man-about-town

A Saint Louis native, Eugene Field was a man full of life and ambition. He began his career as a professor at Williams College, followed by stints at Knox College and the University of Missouri. Then, after a short-lived attempt in the world of acting, Field found journalism.

The profession was a perfect match for a man who loved stories. To tell them, and to live them. He worked as a reporter and editor for the rest of his life. After a time with St. Louis Journal, Times Journal, and Kansas City Times, Field was hired as managing editor of the Denver Tribune in 1881.

Field was absolutely loved in Denver. His column “Odds and Ends” satirized prominent Denverites and city officials. Sometimes, Field would incorporate a poem in his story. Later in life, he became best known for his children’s poems. So much so that his original Denver house, along with a statue standing in tribute to one of his most famous poems “Wynken, Blynken and Nod” became a Denver historical landmark.

According to executive director of The Park People Paige Hayden-McCrary, “The Eugene Field house had been in Washington Park for the better part of eighty years. People know his poem ‘Wynken, Blynken, and Nod’ and they know that is why the statue is next to the house.”

Wynken, Blynken & Nod

The Eugene Fields cottage was built in 1875 and stood at 315 West Colfax Avenue until 1930 when Denver’s own Molly Brown bought the cottage and asked the City and County of Denver to place it in a public park. For years in Washington Park, the cottage served as a library. Now, it houses The Park People, “a private non-profit organization preserving, enhancing, and advocating for Denver’s parks, recreation resources, open space and urban forest.”

Thomas Hornsby Ferril- Denver poet laureate

Robert Frost, who spent time Thomas Hornsby Ferril at his house on 2123 Downing street, wrote the fol lowing about his friend:

A man is as tall as his height
Plus the height of his home town.
I know a Denverite
Who, measured from sea to crown,
Is one mile, five-foot-ten,
And he swings a commensurate pen.

Ferril Lake, City Park

Thomas Horsby Ferril made a Denver a lager-than-life city just by living in it. But his poetry made it legend. An insurance executive by day, Ferril would return to his home at night – a home that welcomed poet friends Frost, Carl Sandburg, and Dorthy Parker – to write some of the most enduring poetry of the American West.

The Thomas Hornsby Ferril house, where Ferril lived from 1900 until his death in 1988, is now a historic landmark that houses The Lighthouse Writer’s Workshop, founded and operated still by working writers and university-level teachers.

Just east of the Ferril house is Denver’s ‘City Park,’ crowned by the famous Ferril Lake, where Ferril walked many nights. The lake frames the backdrop for one of Denver’s most stunning views.

Commissioned to the capitol

In 1940, Colorado Governor Ralph Carr commissioned Ferril to collaborate with great muralist Allen True to commemorate Colorado’s triumph in the American West. The two men created a tribute to the state and its natural resources in the state capitol rotunda.

Colorado state capitol rotunda

[the paintings] “show the importance of water to Colorado,” says Simon Maghakyan, assistant manager of visitor services, state capitol.

“The last one is my personal favorite one because it talks about the future, and how technology will change that,”Maghakyan says.

At the historic park at the confluence of the Platte River and Cherry Creek,

you can see Ferril’s poem “Two Rivers.” next to the water:  “Two rivers that were here before a city still come together.”

Thomas Horsby Ferril was named the state’s ‘Poet Laureate’ in 1979.

Jack Kerouac, Denver’s beat son

When Jack Kerouac wrote “the streets were the ‘holy Denver streets’ I called them, and just because of this particular softness,” in his book “Visions of Cody,” he paid tribute to the city that breathed life into his beat.

Though, in his great American novel “On the Road” he said, “down in Denver all I did was die.”

It was this bittersweet relationship with the city that Kerouac made his own that owes to Kerouac’s presence still. Kerouac spent time in Denver – a time that would later be the inspiration for “On the Road” – with poet Allan Ginsberg, and beat generation icon Neal Cassady. You don’t have to go far to find the ghost of Kerouac on the streets of Denver.

My Brother's Bar owner Jim Karagan

My Brother’s Bar- a peculiar Denver haunt

On the corner of 15th and Platte streets is the old “Paul’s Place,”  Denver’s oldest bar. My Brother’s Bar dates back to 1973.

It was here that the Kerouac and the “Denver kid” Neal Cassady planned their excursions into the American night. Owner Jim Karagan says, “people still come in here because of it.”

“This was one of their hangouts, their headquarters,” Karagan says.

When Karagan and his brother bought the place in 1970 they had no idea about the history behind it. Now, My Brother’s Bar is one of Denver’s most beloved, and certainly most poetic, places.

The Colburn Hotel- a beat palace

The Colburn, 980 Grant St.

Neal Cassady lived at the Colburn Hotel on 930 Grant St. A high class place, Cassady (who would be the inspiration for Kerouac’s'Dean Moriarty’)  hosted Kerouac, Ginsberg, and a number of other personalities regularly.

Walk a few blocks north and you will find the Jack Kerouac building adorned with lines from Kerouac’s poetry and novels.

Jack Kerouac, Denver’s beat poet, lives on.

To see the video tour of these poetic places, and to learn more about Eugene Field, Thomas Hornsby Ferril, and Jack Kerouac click HERE.

My Brother's Bar, 15th & Platte streets

The Jack Kerouac Building- 1250 Sherman

Her experience at Metro, she says, was integral in preparing to establish a way to help young people.

She has certainly done that. Since its inception in 2003, Art from Ashes has helped thousands of youth across the state find a voice through poetry workshops. The Metro State commercial is a tribute to her wonderful work and to the benefits of a solid educational background.

Click HERE to see the commercial.

Photo: AleBonvini

On Sunday Jan. 3rd Art from Ashes executive director Catherine O’Neill Thorn and poet Chance Two Crow rocked the Denver airwaves. The passion they both have for poetry and the organization is clear.

They were heard on Entercom’s four stations: Alice 105.9FM, 1430 AM, The Mountain 99.5FM and KOSI 101 FM.

Here the full interview HERE

Marie Verrett, Director of Operations

AfA director of operations Marie Verrett

I met Catherine [O'Neill Thorn] before Art from Ashes, Inc. was founded in 2003. As I reflect on it, it still astounds me that I am actually working in the organization that was a powerful vision in Catherine’s mind seven years ago–even longer because Catherine has been doing this work for 18 years now. Tina Griego (at the time a reporter for The Rocky Mountain News) wrote an article about Catherine’s dream of running a nonprofit using poetry as a medium to reach struggling youth. I thought it was a great idea back then and I still think it’s a great idea.

I am one of two founding board members still with the organization, the other is Miranda Middleton who is the current Board President. I thought I was a good board member until I became a staff member in 2008–boy, were my eyes opened! Subsequently, I also participated in a year-long training program conducted by the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA) that prepares business leaders to serve on the boards of arts nonprofits–absolutely great program.

I was a commercial real estate broker when I met Catherine at a Denver Black Pages’ Strictly Bizness Nite event, I believe in 2002 or early 2003. She was one of the presenters for the evening and I was so impressed with her presentation that I went up to speak with her afterward and got her business card. It was some time after that I read the story and re-connected with her.

I never entertained the thought of ever working in a non-profit although I have I’ve been a volunteer of nonprofits for much of my adult life. It wasn’t until I went with Catherine to a powerful seminar by Jim Collins based on his book GOOD TO GREAT: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … And Others Don’t, that we really began talking about the book, the seminar and the organization. We could see a lot of parallels from the book to the practical application of analyzing Art from Ashes using this perspective and plotting what needed to happen next for the organization to make the leap to the next level. We felt like we needed to have staff now while the momentum was in the organization’s favor. Jim discussed this momentum using a flywheel example–at first, a lot of energy is absorbed when you push against it so that it doesn’t appear to move at all, but if you consistently push against it, it will eventually give way and begin turning on its own inertia.

Within the week, I found myself working full-time at Art from Ashes. Catherine is like that, but I was ready for it. I told her I planned on giving her three months and look at me now, it’s been two very fast years! There is so much I could talk about in terms of being inspired in the organization. The  process Catherine developed 18 years ago still kicks butt today. We have measurable results in all the work we do and that’s what excites me besides reading and hearing youth poems from the workshop.

You know what, it’s not about me or what I’m doing. . . it’s about  the youth we serve using the power of strong, healthy words to create a positive and self-determined identity. Here’s my favorite poem by Ricardo, 12

The Dance My Father Taught Me
You were teaching me how to dance as a dad,
like how not to take certain steps.
But once I took a wrong step
and stepped on your foot by saying no to you.
You quickly hit me,
so my mom left you.
Now my mom is teaching me how to dance,
and I want to tell you,
she is more swift on her feet.
I don’t have to listen all day just to learn one step.
She shows me where I should step,
and she taught me the steps you could never teach me—
how to be a real man.
She taught me every dance by herself.
She taught me the waltz, the salsa and the man dance.

Drawing on Air program director Susie Martin

Susie Martin, ‘Drawing on Air’ program director

I knew that I wanted to be involved with Art from Ashes from the  moment that I sat down with Marie [Verrett] and Catherine [O’Neill Thorn] to discuss starting up  a visual art program last fall.

I have never felt so close to an  organization’s guiding philosophy as at Art from Ashes, and I love that each and every workshop includes expression, connection and  transformation. What more could a person ask for in life?

As with everyone else involved with this organization, I have been personally moved and inspired by the youth that we serve. I love being involved in this community and sharing Art from Ashes with the world.

A memorable workshop experience occurred for me during my training at The Spot, run by Urban Peak. One of the youth was refusing to participate in the beginning, completely shut down around one of the prompts given about looking at the legacy created by our parents. By the end of the evening, he had both written and shared about his pain by performing a poem for everyone to hear. He was visibly lighter and transformed. It was truly an honor to share the space with him.

This happens all the time here as a result of the work that we do. I never stop feeling lucky and blessed to be a part of this organization.

Lindsey Wise, Phoenix Rising program manage

In February 2008 I was working on my bachelor’s degree in human services at Metropolitan State College of Denver when I was introduced to AfA through a friend. He gave me Noelle Benjamin’s card (she was our former Program Director). I needed to find an internship and  I wanted to do something with art therapy.

Phoenix Rising program manager Lindsey Wise

I called AfA and came in for an orientation. I loved the environment in the office and everyone seemed to have such a kind spirit. Once I began to work with the youth I fell in love with everything about this organization and the amazing work that they do in the Denver Metro community.

My personal beliefs and the beliefs of AfA matched; that everyone, no matter their circumstances, has the power to create whatever kind of world they want to live in. AfA believes in using the power of strong, healthy words to encourage an identity that is not based in victimization; empowering young people to live healthy, fruitful lives, fully understanding their value and worth.

This agency is amazing, the work we do with young people is truly inspiring and has taken my breath away on more than one occasion. I cannot express the feelings that overwhelm me when the kids look up after reading the poetry they’ve written (in 3 minutes) and an unmistakable look of pride shines on their face to the point that they couldn’t hide it if they tried.

And hearing from a parent or a teacher that they have never seen such confidence radiate from their child is a really special feeling. To know my faith in them gave them the courage to have faith in themselves is really powerful.

AfA facilitator Lindsey Wise with the AY4S participants

Art from Ashes partnered with Aurora Youth 4 Success as part of the AY4S summer program at Gateway High School.

Art from Ashes facilitator Lindsey Wise and co-facilitator Samantha Winter ran the three-week workshop. On Friday, July 23rd the AY4S culmination event featured poetry from the youth who participated in the workshop.

Colorado State Representative Nancy Todd, founder of Aurora Youth 4 Success, was on hand to offer encouragement to more 100 youth and their families. Earlier in the week, Representative Todd had the chance to visit the Art from Ashes workshop sessions.

“I felt like my soul was being stirred once again sitting in that class, and being able to recognize that words are so healing and are the magic you can put together [into] thoughts that can be private or can be shared,” she said.

~listen to a podcast of Inside Art from Ashes’ interview with Rep. Todd HERE~

Aurora Youth 4 Success is offered in partnership with Rocky Mountain Research and Prevention Institute.

Dr. Lisa Van Bramer is the president of RMRPI and the Aurora Youth 4 Success program director. Dr. Van Bramer was also moved by words of the youth poets from the Art from Ashes workshop.

“To see them so confident and so strong, and to see the joy and beauty of everything that they did today gave me goosebumps,” Dr. Van Bramer said.

Art from Ashes poet Chance Twocrow also attended the event. He inspired the youth to pursue their dreams, and he shared some of his poetry.

Inside Art from Ashes blog’s slideshow podcast of the 2010 AY4S culmination event visit the Inside AfA Tumblr page HERE.

Click on license plate to get yours today

Rocky Mountain Research & Prevention Institute sponsors The Colorado Kids 1st license plate program. Funds go directly into the community and are “dedicated to keeping Colorado’s kids safe, healthy and happy.”

To order your Colorado Kids 1st license plate click HERE.

It highlights the Phoenix Rising poetry program at The Spot, an open poetry workshop offered in partnership with Urban Peak. The workshops continue to run every Tuesday night from 6-8pm.

Click HERE to watch the video feature. Click HERE to read the story online.

Do you know the way to Santa Fe? Every first Friday the "art walk" features art, culture, entertainment

Every first Friday in the Denver Art District on Santa Fe, the artist from within comes out to play. As evening draws near, artists and onlookers of all kinds fill the streets for the First Friday Art Walk. The doors open to the more than sixty galleries, restaurants, and shops.

Duck inside one of the galleries and you may see a collection of contemporary watercolors. Follow your eye to another and find painted birdhouses or a series of sculptures made from recycled electronics.

Follow your ear, however, and you will experience art too real, too spontaneous for a price tag: live performance poetry.

The young poets of Art from Ashes

A small group of youth poets gather one block east of the art district at Art from Ashes (AfA). Among them are Chance Two Crow and his brother Chase, Jay-Jay “Reality” Davis, and Michael “the Freaky Monkey” Voice.

The crew walks together, a stand-up mic and small amplifier in hand, to the 910 Arts Gallery. The art walk is in full swing now. Aficionados stroll along the drive. Some stop to watch magic tricks on the corner, others dip into a gallery and eye the art.

Chance Two Crow

First Friday emcee Chance Two Crow, an AfA youth participant and trainee, plugs in, steps up, and opens the session with his poem “Sun Rises”.

Chance’s younger brother Chase told him about the poetry workshops at The Spot Urban Peak in downtown Denver. He went. And he kept going.

Now, Chance is a youth representative on the Board of Directors of AfA and is training to be a co-facilitator.

First Friday emcee Chance Two Crow waxes poetic. Click on Chance's photo to hear his poem "Sun Rises"

“I try to be hands on with everything and be involved as much as I can,” Chance said.

Like many AfA youth participants, Chance Two Crow did not find the inspiration he needed as a young man on the radio or in the lyrics of mainstream music. So, he found it in himself.

Now, Chance is a role model for the youth at the workshops, in the schools, and at events like First Fridays.

“What I like most is getting the other youth out there to perform and getting to hang out with them. I love the atmosphere of the art walk. Everybody seems so interested in the community and what we are trying to do,” he said.

So after he reads his poem, Chance lays it down: “Art from Ashes’ mission it to empower struggling youth by providing creative programs that facilitate health and hope through expression, connection, and transformation.”

Then, Chance Two Crow introduces another youth poet who found salvation in poetry: Jay-Jay “Reality” Davis.

Jay-Jay ‘Reality’ Davis

True transformation comes from within. Jay-Jay Davis knows this better than most. The poet with the stage name ‘Reality’ began her poetic journey, like Chance Two Crow, at The Spot.

When Jay-Jay’ mother was looking for a way to get Jay-Jay on the right path, she called Art from Ashes. Jay-Jay

Jay-Jay "Reality" Davis performs. Jay-Jay says, "Poetry saved my life."

was thirteen. She performed for the first time at The Spot, and she has been composing and reading her powerful poetry ever since.

In fact, she has taken her poetry to the big stage.

After being expelled from school and reeling from a brush with drugs and wrong turns, Jay-Jay found herself on stage at a 2009 speaking event featuring Dr. Alvin Poussaint in Aurora.

In front of a crowd 300 strong, “Reality” took the stage and bellowed, almost in song, her poem “Hero.”

The crowd erupted. Shouts of ‘amen’ shook the theatre.

A man approached Jay-Jay and just had to shake her hand. He was the vice principal of a local school. Jay-Jay’s school – the one she had been expelled from. Not only did he offer to have Jay-Jay back at the school, but also wanted her to read the poem in front of the entire student body.

She calls it “the best moment of [her] life.”

“My friends, they never got to see the real me. I was always bad. But if they see my poetry performance their whole frame of mind changes. I got a lot of respect after that,” she said.

The Denver Post’s Tina Griego wrote a column about Dr. Poussaint’s event. She even mentioned “Reality.”

“Reality” may have taken the stage that night, but it was Jay-Jay that changed the course of her own life.

She is her own hero.

Making art from ashes

Jay-Jay Davis and Art from Ashes director of operations Marie Varrett

After Jay-Jay’s set, more youth poets, all with stories to tell, take the mic as patrons of the art district come and go. Some drop a few dollars in a bowl to support AfA’s work, some lean against the wall and listen, and others sit right down and settle in.

As the set comes to a close, each poet hears the applause from the crowd and feels that now familiar feeling: we are heard, we matter.

American novelist Theodore Dreiser said, “Art is the stored honey of the human soul, gathered on wings of misery and travail.”

The young poets of Art from Ashes know what it’s like to come from the bottom and rise, through the ashes, to speak their powerful prose.

Their lives matter, and the failures they once knew are spoken out loud so that they can become the triumphs that help them live the lives they deserve.

Their message is clear.

They can find the inspiration on their own, and even from each other, but they need us to understand.

Click on the photo to donate to or support Art from Ashes.

We get offended over what elders say / And try to define everything with a specific meaning / Our outlook on this world is past comprehending / Can someone please say AMEN/ Stand up and understand/ We need a HERO to guide and hold our hand

~ Jay-Jay “Reality” Davis

According to the AfA website, “Drama can reach youth through their natural tendency to play and take action, which makes this modality particularly effective for students who are resistant to traditional verbal routes to healing.”

The goal is a mind-body connection unlike any other.

The workshops focus primarily on the aspects of theater including “physical character masking, improvisational techniques, exploration of character traits, as well as components of storytelling including conflict and resolution.”

“Casting Shadows” is just another way Art from Ashes is facilitating hope, connection, and transformation through performance.

For more information on the “Casting Shadows” program contact executive director Catherine O’Neill Thorn.

This is your guide to getting around the Denver youth poetry scene. Looking for a place to workshop, share, or listen to some poetry? Try these poetic places.

The highly competitive award, a program provided by The Colorado Council on the Arts, (CCA) is “designed to help promote cultural, educational and economic growth through statewide investment in creative activities and organizations while also addressing the reality of limited state dollars.”

CCA has partnered with Art from Ashes to further the mission of providing arts-based programs throughout the community.

The Colorado Council on the Arts reviewed AfA’s proposal based on the following criteria:

• Artistic excellence and merit of proposed activities

• Community involvement and benefit from proposed activities

• Implementation capacity, such as effective planning, management, and budgeting of the project

(www.artfromashes.org)

'The Spot.' click the photo to go inside

Inside Art from Ashes had the opportunity to cover a poetry workshop at “The Spot” Urban Peak Youth Drop-in Center on Tuesday June 29th.

The weekly Phoenix Rising poetry workshop  is offered through Urban Peak’s partnership with Art from Ashes, made possible by a grant from the Colorado Council on the Arts. Workshops run every Tuesday from 6-8pm.

Inside Art from Ashes covered it live on the Inside AfA Tumblr page.

Click HERE to see the coverage from the event.

Click HERE to watch a 4 minute video featuring the youth at The Spot produced by Rachel Julkowski.

So featuring AfA in their video “Rise” makes perfect sense. Two of the band’s members, Jonny 5 and Brer Rabbit, have been guest poets at AfA workshops. Jonny 5 is a trained Art from Ashes facilitator. The Flobots’ work with many non-profit organizations. Several of the organizations are featured in the video.

When it comes to the power of words to change and the power of people to come together to ‘rise’ above pain, fear, and hate, the song hits all the right notes.

“Rise together we
Lost hope and found need
Grounded by our surroundings …

…Oh please let the hurting cease
Don’t let apathy police the populace
We will march across
Those stereotypes that were marked for us…”

Look for AfA towards the end of the video. Watch it HERE

Since, the organization has grown to include poetry and arts workshops, weekly poetry sessions and open-mics; and work with residential treatment centers, day treatment programs, probation departments, high schools, youth groups and day camps.

In this podcast, Thorn talks about the therapeutic power of words and the deep healing they provide during the organization’s workshops.

.

Bonus track: “The Spider Story”

Executive Director Catherine O’Neill Thorn discusses the benefits of right-brained access through therapeutic poetry and how it differs from traditional therapy.

Listen to the “The Spider Story” HERE

The 2010 AALL Summit, dubbed ‘Mapping Our Future,’ will take place July 10-13 at the Denver Convention Center. The Community Outreach Committee for the AALL’s Black Caucus selected AfA and will research and support the Denver based program.

The mission of the Black Caucus is “to promote the professional development, recruitment, and social interests of black librarians” (allnet.org).

To find out more about the partnership, and to donate to AfA visit: http://www.artfromashes.org/AALL.html