CREATING IMPACT THROUGH CREATIVITY
We can’t wait to welcome both returning and new girls and non-binary youth who care about the world they live in to our eighth season of ARTivism! This course is for kids who want to make a beautiful difference, and explore finding their creative voice as they do. To do this, we’ll work as a team using ARTivism (art + activism) as an instrument for action.
Every week uses fun and interactive experiments and creative activities covering innovation and sustainability topics, to show our participants how both individual and collective imagination and action can be part of creating change, or a solution to a global problem.
So whether a new or old ARTivist, they can jump into the action and either learn something new or deepen what they know!
THIS COURSE IS ABOUT…
“IMAGINATION ACTIVISM” - DESIGNING & CREATING SOMETHING THAT POSITIVELY BENEFITS US HUMANS AND/OR OUR SURROUNDINGS
It’s becoming ever clearer that our systems need to change and our voices need to be heard. So what better way to express our desire for change than through imagination, design, beauty and art?
We’re calling this season “Innovation For Good”- a crucially timed opportunity to redesign ‘business as usual’ and our world for the better…
+
SUSTAINABLE ACTION + ARTIVISM
Throughout this course, women from different sustainability, science, design and innovation disciplines join us as expert guests, working alongside our co-coaches and Fearless team. Our goal is that every girl will leave us confident in their ability to create impact whether at home, in their community or school. They’ll get hands-on experience in innovation areas important for society, and learn key skills to express not only their learnings, opinions and visions for a wider world, but also their true selves. We’ll mess with mediums and materials and explore creative skills like illustration, screen printing, laser cutting, 3-D printing and more! Our courses always end with our collective work aiming to create impact together, and engage and inspire others via the transformative, disruptive and healing power of design.
We’re super pleased to have partnered with Stryker (for this course to come at no cost for ARTivists once more!), who as a med tech company share the drive for meaningful innovation, and we’ll have an exciting field trip to their office on week 2, March 5th, to get inspired by the innovation mindset and engineering!
Over 8 weeks, our ARTivists
will…
+Explore key topics related to sustainability and technical innovation, with hands-on activities focussing on how they impact our own lives and futures.
+Get creative while trying new artistic methods and tools to communicate societal issues and potential solutions to their community and beyond.
+Challenge their current knowledge of sustainability and discuss key issues and the link between innovation solutions and social justice.
+Have opportunities to try out skills such as illustration, screen printing, laser cutting, 3D printing and more!
We are showing girls that no matter the size of their voice, each has the tools to create change!
Does all of this sound great and get you excited to join us in the future? Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter so you'll be the first to know when our summer programs kick off!
WHO: Girls and genderfluid kids ages 9-12 (max. participants: 12)
For 6 new and 6 returning ARTivists.
WHEN: Tuesdays, February 27 - April 16 @17:00-19:00
With a fieldtrip on March 5th!
PRICE: FREE (Sponsored by Stryker)
WHERE: OBA CC Amstel Maakplaats (De Pijp) Cullinanplein 1, 1074 JM Amsterdam
GOOD TO KNOW: Participants don’t need to be ‘advanced’ in either art or science to do this course. The goal is to show that everyone can get hands-on and be both a scientist and an artist, they are not mutually exclusive.
MEET YOUR COACHES
By giving girls access to positive role models, we’ll empower them to recognise themselves as role models to others and leaders of the future.
Mareka is a freelance conceptual creative & writer with her own company, Lovers & Fighters. As the name suggests, she has a healthy activist streak as one of the two founding families of Extinction Rebellion Families NL, plus working with non-profit global action network Creatives for Climate. With two kids of her own - aged 7 & 9 - Mareka is passionate about creating action for their future environment, and loves using creativity to help young people (and particularly girls) find their voices and discover the positive impact they can have to fight climate change.
Creative Coach: Lieneke Leep
Lieneke is an organiser pur sang, who loves conceptual thinking and getting her hands dirty. She has worked in creative branches, such as entertainment & events, the music industry and the advertising world. Over the years she has gotten involved in several volunteer projects that match her interests and gives her positive energy; sport events for underprivileged children, Fight Cancer, de Dierenbescherming and Make a Wish. The last few years she joined Project Fearless and specifically ARTivism, enjoying the creativity and beautiful minds of the girls she gets to interact with.
Creative Coach: Cathy Sorbara
Dr. Cathy Sorbara is a neuroscientist who worked for 10 years as a researcher in Canada and Germany, studying neurodegenerative diseases. Since then, she has worked across academia, start-up and the non-profit sectors, including Greenpeace International, where she specialised in governance and strategic planning. Now, she is Deputy Director of Arctic Basecamp, a science communication non-profit organisation with a mission to speak science to power and empower decision-makers across the globe, from policy makers to businesses, with science-based knowledge about the risks of Arctic change.
To ensure that all girls feel heard and comfortable, this course will be taught in both English and Dutch fluidly. In our experience, language has never been a barrier when it comes to being fearless! Plus it’s a great opportunity for girls to practise their language skills and learn from each other.
‘Fear is a construct of your brain, a protection mechanism. So it’s not a bad thing. But this construct doesn’t disappear on its own when it’s not needed anymore. So being fearless for me means you take a good look at this mechanism and if it still serves a purpose, or if it is getting in the way of you experiencing life, creating memories, expanding your knowledge, skills and who you want to be!’
- Creative Coach, Lieneke Leep (2023)