BuildaBridge is a non-profit 501(c)3 arts education and intervention organization that engages the transformative power of the arts to bring hope and healing to children, families, and communities in the tough places of the world. BuildaBridge motivates, enlists, trains, and connects those with artistic gifts with those in greatest need.
BuildaBridge accomplishes this mission through direct arts-based educational & therapeutic intervention in after-school, Saturday and summer programs; and through training artists in the “BuildaBridge Classroom” a trauma-informed, hope-infused, child-centered replicable model that includes a restorative justice approach for working with youth. BuildaBridge is unique in that it is one of the only organizations working with the Philadelphia’s homeless and abused children & families as a primary constituency on a consistent, long-term basis through arts-based methods. This same work takes place internationally--through our alliances--in Guatemala, Haiti, Nicaragua, Malaysia, and Kenya.
BuildaBridge's mission is twofold: Bring hope and healing through the arts and Engage artists in service to others. In other words, we use the arts to help people in difficult situations to heal from trauma and find hope for their future. Our formula, or basic philosophy, can be summed up: CREATIVE ART-MAKING for KIDS in TOUGH PLACES with ARTIST MENTORS=HOPE AND HEALING. Our motto for all teaching artists and mentors is Speaking a Blessing into the life of the child through the arts.
Our 2012 goal is to provide hope and healing through the arts to the 250 homeless children in Philadelphia and 5,000 children worldwide through our alliances.
The primary goals for our programs are to provide children and youth through creative arts experiences:
1. Healing from trauma due to violence & abuse in order to break the cycle of violence;
2. Foster healthy development & hope for their future;
3. Develop academic, social, artistic-expressive skills and that foster spiritual and character development;
4. Allow development & rehearsal of skills for living as responsible, contributing and empathetic citizens; and
5. Train artists, youth workers, educators and congregational youth leaders in effective arts-based methods for community, family and child transformation.
LOCATION: In 2003, BuildaBridge moved its headquarters from Northeast Philadelphia to Germantown, and is committed to being a transformative presence in its own community.
Examples of what we do:
- Children learned to appreciate the value of other cultures through an indoor mural project in one Philadelphia shelter that taught about Persian art
- Gang members in a Guatemala prison experienced joy and relief of boredom through a portrait painting class
- Young court-mandated single mothers managed their anxiety and anger by creating masks in an art and spirituality class
- Former child prostitutes in Costa Rica dealt with the pain of their past by telling their stories through drama
- Forty homeless women learned financial planning skills through a soap opera and game show along with financial planning with a local banker
- Young artists learned the social skills of behavior in a formal setting by attending live concerts in a professional theater
- Young homeless mothers learned to plan and cook inexpensive healthy snack foods for their kids in a culinary arts class
BuildaBridge is supported by a number of foundations including the Philadelphia Cultural Alliance which has called BuildaBridge one of the best arts organizations serving children in the city of Philadelphia. In the picture above, BuildaBridge receives a check for $20,000 to support our Artist in Residence and the Artology Program, in 2010.
