A community based art project developed by Felice Salmon & The Busybees of The Open Forum Youth Initiative, Inspiring & Becoming is an unfolding conversation around the question, “Why does a person become who she is?”
Built around a month-long investigation of personal & historical stories of women, this project was led by a group of young people and community artists who worked together to examine the collective contributions of women to society and, then, portray them in creative ways.
They chose to interview, write, draw, stitch, reflect, video, paint & photograph the stories of each other as a way of learning more about the thoughts, feelings & strengths of womankind. Then, those stories became pieces that can allow others to be inspired and shaped.
This project was created in collaboration with The Open Forum Youth Initiative &
community artists, Ciara LeRoy, Stevie Morrison, Paige Commodore, & Felice Salmon.
The Open Forum Youth Initiative works with a group of young women aged 8-16 to
develop and implement cultural and artistic initiatives of their design in Northeast Lexington. In an effort to allow youth to reach their full potential and learn to utilize their voices in community conversations in an equitable way, adult facilitators and co-mentors work alongside participants to teach youth to connect, contemplate, and create.
Leadership opportunities and creative problem-solving training are crucial to the wellbeing of young people and The Open Forum Youth Initiative would like to thank the Blue Grass Community Foundation & the Kresge Foundation for supporting us in creating a safe space in which young women can access these resources.
Felice Salmon 