Community-Word Project

Our mission is to facilitate culturally responsive, multidisciplinary art programs for students, teaching artists, and communities to develop and amplify their voices and creative skills.

CWP envisions a world where all artists and learners work together to recognize and celebrate the power of their creative voices to manifest a more equitable future.

This youth-centered organization seeks to:

• empower youth by giving them the tools and skills they need to individually and collectively voice their hopes and fears to a greater community
• engage young people in their education, by giving them the opportunity to take ownership in their learning by creating original poems or dramatic works with their classmates, to perform together and create original artwork
• create agency among young people, in which they become collaborators, co-creators and role models, and form a community of enduring positive influence on one another
• train artists to transform their creative process into teaching skills to responsibly and comprehensively reach all student learners
• sustain CWP's work by training public school teachers and after-school leaders to continue to draw upon our model of using the arts to develop community building and literacy tools

Our values:

• Intentional Collaboration - We support collaborative exchanges of ideas through learning and teaching, honoring each others’ lived experiences, talents, and communities.
• Inclusion & Accessibility - We respect and value the diversity of perspectives, learning styles, abilities, artforms, and cultural backgrounds.
• Creative Expression - We celebrate creativity in everything we do. We believe that no matter the age, ability or experience, we all have an innate capacity for creative expression.
• Power of Voice - We believe in the power of individual and collective voice and the confidence and agency that grows through creative artistry.
• Radical Love - Our work is a practice in love and joy, for ourselves and for one another. It is what motivates us to create.