WE ARE ARTISTS INK
Founded in 2013, Artists Ink is a multidisciplinary arts organization born out of East Salinas, our focus is to produce quality and versatile art that gives a voice to the experiences and history of our community. Artists Ink believes in empowering our youth through the use of the arts as a vehicle for personal and social change. By equipping them with professional knowledge and skills we are inspiring the next generation to pursue the arts as a career and value themselves as the unique and dynamic individuals they are. We aspire to provide a space where professional artists and students can experiment, collaborate, and grow.
Mission Statement
Uniting artists to uplift the cultura and histories of our community while pushing the boundaries of art.
Vision & Values
Our Guiding Light
We are guided by interconnected values of amor, cariño, energía, cultura, identity, and awareness. They are like our elements of fire, earth, water, and wind, as we instigate, embolden, discover, and ignite stories within.
INSTIGATE CON
AMOR, CARIÑO
& ENERGIA
We bring care, love, and energy to value you, your story, and your truth. We cultivate space that embraces vulnerability, to be open, to be respected and to be yourself. We keep in mind our connection to the earth, at peace with all living things.
EMBOLDEN
CULTURA
We are guided by ancestral wisdom, knowledge, and the spirits of our maestros. We bring courage, compassion, pride, yoli (“to bring life” in Nahuatl), and responsibility to pass our history. We touch our indigenous roots and are grounded in the roots of tradition. We are an embodiment of culture, a mix of cultures, evolving with experience. We bring space to embrace the cultures of our community and welcome other cultures.
DISCOVER
IDENTITY &
AWARENESS
We create a place of discovery and reflection, of self, of identity, of history. We validate your opportunity to explore and claim your identity, with roots of your past, culture and background. We harness inner light, for direction, to stay grounded, to create your identity, and to discover your unique path. We uplift and amplify knowledge and awareness of the world around us, to think bigger, and to reshape our narrative.
CONTEX
roots of struggle
Our community is powerful on their own and even with these odds stacked against them, they are resilient.
We are compelled by a context in which our youth have the odds stacked against them. Where our youth lack a creative place in their neighborhood that reflects their culture and history. Where our families face stress, economic worries, fear, vulnerability, and inequities. Where our community lacks a positive narrative. Where our culture and community has been oppressed by the dominant culture and colonization.
LACK
OF PLACE
Our youth lack a creative place in their neighborhood that reflects their culture and history. A place to be connected, free, and creative. A grounding space, a solid foundation, of encouragement, a place to shine. Our community has few opportunities for this type of experience in the community. Our families lack economic opportunities for youth to experience these opportunities outside the community. This lack of place creates resentment and frustration
INEQUITIES
Our families face stress, economic worries, fear, vulnerability, inequities, and worry about their kids. Our students are learning in schools that lack national investments in education. Our community has even less resources invested in our schools, and our neighborhood has the least investment in schools. We are working form a place of awareness and working against this lack of resources and opportunities that are three times against our youth.
NEGATIVE NARRATIVE
Our community lacks a positive narrative. Our narrative does not reflect our community’s power, resilience, and pride. Our community is not reflected as the beauty of the soil of the earth, of agriculture, as a place to visit, and an epicenter of technology, creativity, and culture.
DOMINANT CULTURE & COLONIZATION
Our culture and community has been oppressed by the dominant culture and colonization. Our culture is already set back, behind and it is hard to catch up. Youth may barely know Spanish and are learning English. Youth are not being taught our history and our culture. Historical lack of understanding of our culture. Our ancestral wisdom could have progressed instead our culture was ripped away. Indigenous lands before colonization. Our families are curious about their identities, wanting ancestral knowledge and not knowing where to go. Families have to assimilate and adapt. They don’t have the chance to know and connect to their stories, and then cannot pass them on. The picture we have been taught is inaccurate. Native and indigenous peoples were advanced. You are part of that history.
Racial Equity Statement
Artists Ink’s staff, artists and teachers are a reflection of the community we serve. Predominantly with latinx backgrounds and natives of the Alisal and greater Salinas Valley. We are committed to creating racial equity by developing equitable practices that provide the framework for how we function as an organization and how we serve our community. In a community that is often overlooked and underserved, Artists Ink is committed to raising up the culture and history of our community. By cultivating safe spaces that youth and artists alike feel connected, we are providing a solid foundation, and a grounding space to learn and share. To ensure access to all our students and artists, Artists Ink is committed to providing free programming and services to help our community reach its highest potential. In our on-going pursuit of racial equality, Artists Ink also strives to reflect this practice in how we value our staff and artists by paying them not only fair but competitive wages for their work. Internally, Artists Ink continues to review, and update our policies, programs and services to reflect the needs and diversity of our community.
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