Elementz
1640 Race Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Creative Futures Initiative
Using Hip Hop cultural art forms, Elementz is expanding its existing work with young people to strategically expose and therefore expand the possibilities of young creatives of color through measured and intentional efforts involving creative skill-building, creative college and career exposures, academic support and social-emotional development in what is presently known as the Creative Futures Initiative, or CFI.
Program Goals:
Objectives:
To address the issues of Exposure and Resourcing, Elementz Hip Hop Cultural Art Center continued the work of the Creative Futures Initiative (CFI), which is designed to collaboratively with key cross-sector partners to increase the number of black and brown creative youth who have access to and are successful in the creative workforce. The CFI aims to develop infrastructure that provides robust academic support, creative college and career exposure, mentoring, diverse representation, internships, and pathways to creative career opportunities for young black and brown creatives.
Through key public and private partnerships, Creative Futures Initiative catalyzes sustainable solutions for students and families, secondary school districts, post-secondary colleges and universities, and industry partners ensuring a meaningful value exchange.
As an ongoing project, Elementz has expanded our reach from 9 to 15 schools, across four school districts, and we expect this school partnership number to grow with a potential reach of impacting over 2,000 youth.
Our Creative Futures Initiative allows our young people to gain first-hand experience with the inner workings of the creative sector, from planning and production to performance, providing them with greater career options as well as helping them to build transferable skills that will be beneficial on many levels.
Program Results:
Throughout the grant period, the Creative Futures Initiative successfully worked with 15 schools and reached over 2,538 students. Those students were exposed to creative enrichment programming in the basic tenets of Hip Hop such as Hip Hop dance, djing, graffiti, creative writing, and music production, specifically beat-making and recording.
The programming is culturally relevant to young people and therefore invites students to partake in creative exploration and skill development.
Most of the students served were people of color and our school partners had expanded beyond the Over-the-Rhine and Avondale area, as we also worked with schools in Mt. Healthy, Silverton, and even Holmes High School in Kentucky.
Website:
http://www.elementz.org Amount: $25,000
Date: October 2022
