Partners in Arts Participation

Youth Farm partnered with Juxtaposition Arts and Saint Olaf Community Campus to develop a community education and public art space adjoined to an existing urban farm in the Jordan Neighborhood of North Minneapolis. Both Youth Farm and Juxtaposition Arts bring years of youth development and community organizing experience, and Saint Olaf Community Campus provides many existing social services to neighbors and community members across North Minneapolis. One artist from Juxtaposition Arts worked with a Youth Farm summer staff member to plan and implement an eight week public art installation on the side of a 40 foot long steel shipping container. The container was repurposed to accommodate storage for a communal tool lending library that is used by Youth Farm programming and community members throughout the growing season. The Juxtaposition Arts artist and Youth Farm staff engaged youth, community members and residents of the assisted living facility at Saint Olaf Community Campus in every step of the design and implementation phases of the project. Youth and community elders worked together several times per week throughout the summer to create a large mural focusing on urban agriculture, food access and healthy eating. The mural was unveiled at the community wide Youth Farm Harvest Festival on August 11, 2013. 2: Through this strong partnership between Juxtaposition Arts, Saint Olaf Community Campus and Youth Farm, young people, elders, community members and artists were able to come together and learn from another through art. Youth Farm youth, Saint Olaf Community Campus residents and community member participation in Saint Olaf Community Campus services and programs increased in some areas as great as 50%. These numbers were quantified through Youth Farm attendance records, Saint Olaf Community Campus Second Harvest food distribution records and Youth Farm’s produce distribution records. This art installation project helped to lay a foundation for positive interactions and partnerships among young people within the Youth Farm program and elders at the North Oaks Residence.