The first thing I noticed when I entered the graduation and fashion show at New Urban Arts was the intense energy of the crowd, probably about 200 people, most of them young students and young adult artists who comprise New Urban Arts' constituency. There was an enthusiasm in the gallery that was powerfully palpable, and served as a fierce entree to the vitality and importance of this organization. I didn't know what to expect of the idea of a graduation and fashion show, because the words themselves hint at something perhaps ceremonial in the most superficial and drab sense. But this was the opposite: it was a celebration of creativity and mentorship that not only attested to the quality of the work but also the depth of the accomplishment.

The fashion show was only the culmination of the event, and in some ways it was the least important element of the program, except of course for those who had designed some clothes. But there were two other elements of the event: the exhibition of work, and the graduation ceremony. The walls were covered with student work, ranging from work that was clearly by young people just beginning artistic careers, to work that was highly realized. The work overall showed a willingness to experiment with new forms and techniques and in general a lack of fear about negative judgment. It was evidence of what board member Holly Ewald described as their goal for youth to “find voice to express what they are interested in, and to find voice to express who they are.” This was echoed independently by one student of four years, Rebecca Volynsky, now at Boston University, who told us, “Because of this place I was able to find my own voice, with the guidance of mentors.”

The mentorship piece is more complex and is one of the things that sets New Urban Arts apart from other organizations. Each semester, 20 or so artists serve as artist-mentors to the students, and at current levels, about 300 students participate each school year. The point is not just instruction, but, in their words, to build deep and more sustainable long-term relationships between young and professional artists. The participants emphasize this is a relationship formed by both parties, that the choices the students make about their learning is an equally important part of the process. So the mentoring relationship is beyond instruction and encompasses encouragement, reaction, sharing, exchange, words you seldom hear when people describe inner city public education, or even at universities, frankly. Jason Yoon uses words like “bravery” and “values” when talking about the quality of the mentorship and the instructional style. At the graduation event, each student had to present his or her mentor with a flower, while each mentor presented his or her students with a book chosen for the student and a speech about how the student had developed, in front of the whole audience of some 150-200 people. There is a certain ingenuousness to all this that not only was inspiring, but also reveals how difficult it is to form strong, positive, artistically supportive relationships in a culture that only encourages materialism, competition, and cynicism.

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