Creating Home, A Storytelling Program For Young People

Thursday, April 17, 2014



This is a great project that's trying to get some Kickstarter funds to get up and running and is a pilot project of COMPAS and Land of Gazillion Adoptees trying to connect tens of thousands of adopted persons, many Asian American and transracial, with local and national artists - definitely get on down and check it out here.

From the Kickstarter:

Creating Home, a pilot program of COMPAS and Land of Gazillion Adoptees (LGA), will connect adoptees and world-class artists.

Although Minnesota is the home to tens of thousands of adopted persons, the state nevertheless has struggled to offer meaningful services and programming, especially to young adoptees during their most formative years. Teen and college age adoptees, who according to recent research struggle with issues of identity and the ability to express how they truly feel, do not have resources designed specifically for them, let alone resources that appeal to them. To address this need, COMPAS, Land of Gazillion Adoptees (LGA), and Kyle Tran Myhre, aka, Guante, have teamed up to develop Creating Home. The Twin Cities pilot and first of its kind program will connect young persons who identify as adoptees with world-class artists.

“A program like this is really promising because adults in the adoptee community have been so influential in helping me come to the place I am in my adoption journey. And art is a fabulous thing, and so I feel like if you put them together it’s bound for greatness." - Grace Newton, student at Macalester College

Creating Home is a multidisciplinary storytelling program for teen and college age adoptees, and is driven by the idea that finding one’s voice through the arts can be an empowering experience. The three month pilot program will feature world-class teaching artist mentors (like the artists, actors, and writers featured in our video), interactive workshops, performance opportunities, and much more. It will serve as a space to affirm identity and build community in whatever ways that makes sense to the participants. Whether through spoken-word, visual art, dance, or other forms, the teen and college age adoptee participants will be given tools and resources to tell their stories and talk about their thoughts and perspectives on their own terms.

"It's wonderful what the arts can do to unlock your potential and to give you a feeling of agency and a voice...The feeling that you deserve to be heard and that you can make a difference by telling your story" - Sara Ochs, Actor & Arts Educator

Overview of Creating Home

Creating Home is a three month pilot project, which COMPAS and LGA hope to eventually turn into a state-wide and national program. Here is an overview:

Kickoff: The event will feature a mix of youth performers and locally and nationally recognized artists. It will give participants the opportunity to see the work of up-and-coming and established artists and also to meet some of the program’s artist mentors.
Workshops: Lead by Kyle Tran Myhre, a veteran teaching artist mentor, the workshops will have core faculty/facilitators and guest artists who will work directly with the participants in various mediums. The workshops will be a mix of structured lessons and activities, as well as open space for participants to create.
Regular Exhibition Opportunities: Participants will have ample opportunities to showcase their work at open mics, art galleries, and theaters.
Online/Magazine Exhibition Opportunities: Gazillion Voices, the online magazine of LGA, will feature participants who are interested in showcasing video and photography.
Closing Ceremony: The event will be a final exhibition that will be open to the public. Participants will show their final works to friends, family, and the Minneapolis/Twin Cities arts community.
Inaugural Creating Home Book: The participants’ creations will be published in an online and print book, with proceeds going back into the program.