YAG Mission Statement
Rural & Migrant Ministry’s Youth Arts Group (YAG) is a culturally diverse group in which teenagers come together with a determination to create change in our lives and communities.
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What is YAG?
As members of YAG, we are committed to empowering ourselves and others, developing and practicing our leadership skills, while acting as allies to each other and to those seeking social justice. Through engagement in creative action, we are dedicated to the task of influencing other youth to join in our Mission to create political, economic and social changes.
What Do We Do?
Continual growth and positive change are part and parcel of being in YAG. This is a responsibility of all members. To get the most out of being in YAG, members must participate fully. YAG members must commit to attending all of the Friday night meetings 5:30 - 9:30, as well as an extra afternoon or evening meeting during the week, as needed. YAG members must participate in monthly educational trips, actions, and presentations.
Every year members host a day-long "Art for Justice" event.
We create CHANGE in our communities. We create ART for social change! MOST IMPORTANTLY - WE HAVE FUN!
Some accomplishments of the Youth Arts Group
YAG members wrote and received a $26,000 grant from the Presbyterian Committee on the Self Development of the People, Presbyterian Church U.S.A for leadership programs.
YAG members create large large scale murals, including the 6’ x 10’ mural - Drawing a Different Future on the topics of youth violence, racism, and negative media, and the most recent two murals (2018) on LGBTQ+ and Mental Issues.
YAG members created a Spoken Word CD about YAG goals for justice.
YAG created and presented three performances about justice issues in the community using Playback Theater techniques.
In collaboration with Children’s Media Project, we created an 8-minute educational documentary demonstrating YAG members as active allies to farmworkers in their struggle to obtain equal rights.
In collaboration with film makers U Roberto Romano and Ilene Cutler, YAG created an educational film/documentary called DREAMers Among US. This film addresses the challenges that undocumented youth face every day in their quests to continue their academic higher education.
DREAMers Among US won two awards: Best Short Documentary at the Hudson Valley International Film Festival and Best Short Film at the Greater Washington Immigration Film Fest.
YAG has organized two Youth Symposiums (2017, 2018) for their peers, including workshops on topics such as Art for Justice, the History of Educational Inequality, and Organizing.
Click to download the 2018 Annual Report of Activities and Accomplishments.
