Advocacy Archives - Upstream Arts

Coming Together Against Sexual Violence: our December Art of Prevention Convening

by Julie Guidry | Dec 16, 2024 | Advocacy, Reflection

On December 5 we facillitated our first Art of Prevention Convening, bringing together an incredible room full of partners to address sexual violence prevention in creative and accessible ways. Nearly 100 participants and staff from over 10 adult day programs joined...

Why I take Self-Advocacy Classes: words from a Self-Advocate in our community

by Julie Guidry | Jul 1, 2024 | Advocacy, Community Program

Photo crecit: Jason W. Bucklin Photography. Recently we were honored to receive an audio message from Brynn Sexton, a longtime Participant and Self-Advocate who has taken our Self-Advocacy classes several times. She shared a little about why she takes classes, what...

Paint the Poem in Colors of Self-Advocacy

by Julie Guidry | Aug 15, 2023 | Advocacy, Community Program

In our Self-Advocacy classes, we use the arts to explore the many ways we can express ourselves, reiterating one of our core themes, “My voice has value.” Upstream Arts has always held an expansive understanding of the word “voice” – we...

Finding the Rhythm to Start Our Dialogue

by Upstream Arts | Aug 5, 2022 | Advocacy, Community Program

My voice has value.I have the right to be listened to. These are the first two themes we focus on in our Art of Self-Advocacy classes. As we begin our Summer session, we have two full classes of awesome self-advocates joining us in-person and online. The first two...

Learning from Upstream Arts’ Self-Advocacy Classes

by Upstream Arts | Jan 14, 2022 | Advocacy, Community Program

The ever-insightful artist Phil Colins once wrote and sang, “In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.” These words have been echoing through my ears more regularly since I began teaching Upstream Arts’ new Self-Advocacy classes. My older brother,...

At the source of the river’s current

by Upstream Arts | Jan 7, 2022 | Advocacy, School Residency

Over the past two years, in addition to our traditional Upstream Arts programs, we have had the pleasure of bringing our Art of Relationships classes, focused on healthy relationships, bodily autonomy and consent, to Minneapolis Public Schools’ (MPS) high school...