Storytelling & Mask Making
Spring Youth Program
Happy Spring!
At the beginning of April, during Asheville’s spring break, Soul & Soil Project hosted a free creative series for young people, this time for ages 10-14.
Over 3 days, 11 participants had the opportunity to create masks from clay molds and paper mache, as facilitated by Arulu Gallagher of House of Arulu, a very talented artist of not only masks, but movement pieces, visual arts, and tattoo.
Ta’rin’ii of Lionpaw Livity, held the space throughout, opening and closing the container we co-created together, guiding the activities seamlessly, and acting as main program facilitator. She invited Deanna Rose to offer a sound bath for the kids at the end of the program as well. Ta’rin’ii is a mother, herbalist, land steward, and teacher.
This was our pilot program for a series we plan to continue offering throughout the year to different communities, prioritizing BIPOC youth. The three 5 hour days included plant based, nutritive lunches provided by Archipelago Kitchen.
As you can see in our photos captured by Mike of Jungle Branch, the masks vary in design and story. Some kids wanted to create animals, while others explored the human face and emotion. They were all very proud of their creations, and we can’t wait to host this again for older youth.
Our purpose is to cultivate resilience and joy, and we deeply feel the importance of play, creativity, culture, and storytelling, as a way to empower our healing. By accessing the imagination and authentic expression, by gathering together to share creative activities, by growing community relationships intergenerationally, we can tap into a wider healing as well.
We are so grateful to all who helped bring this program to life!
BIG THANKS to our grant sponsors Tzedek Social Justice Fund, ArtsAVL, and the Jane Henson Foundation for supporting our grassroots nonprofit in launching this program. Another huge thanks to the Stephens-Lee Community Center for being our hosts!
The desire for more of these series is heard, and rest assured, community, we will keep doing these and diving deeper with you! Sign up for our email list on our website, so you can stay tuned for our next YOUTH focused series! We will also be hosting an adult series during season 2 of Coming Home to Earth circles, where we will dive deeper into ancestors, culture, healing, and ritual.
We offered this as a free program to make it accessible for all, however we invite you to make a donation to our small, love-powered organization if you can. We count on community support!
Another way you can help is by checking out our GoFundMe and learn more about that specific project in collaboration with Nawaya Ancient Future Labs, in Cherokee. Our roots as an organization is in food sovereignty, and we are so thrilled to have a permanent home for our regenerative, polycultural gardens and apothecary. We are starting from scratch again, but we can do it! Please consider sharing the gofundme within your network, and making a contribution today. It all goes to help us co-create a FOOD, ART, and CULTURE HUB and business incubation space! Thank you SOUL much for your support!!!
Thank you to all the participants who joined us this Spring! We had a blast getting creative with you. Thank you to Stephens Lee Community Center for offering us the space, and to the SSP team members who helped make this happen! Clarice Briscoe, Alina & Mike Talyad, Alinahh Ever, Draya Edmondson, and Asher Edes.