We are excited to announce that we have been awarded a $12,000 Community Leadership Academy award from Wells Fargo! This year’s Community Leadership Academy grants focused on Workforce Development and Youth Entrepreneurship.
What will this fund?
With this award, we will secure new and upgraded computers for apprentices in our Textiles & Screen Printing and Environmental Design Labs. Thus, we will ensure that the Labs have adequate and professional tools to accomplish their work. With these new computers, apprentices ages 14-21 will be more equipped to complete their work in textile design, graphic design, and 2-D and 3-D modeling. We can ensure the best environment and resources for young people to develop and hone their creative skills in software like Adobe Creative Suite and SketchUp, which was close to impossible on our older machines nearing ten years old.
In the JXTALabs, apprentices learn alongside teaching artists and designers by working on real client projects in four areas: graphic design, textiles & screen printing, architectural design and public art, and contemporary art. The skills they acquire in the Labs propel them into careers, higher education, and entrepreneurship, all while getting paid an hourly wage. With updated tools, apprentices can build their portfolios by developing projects ranging from unique textile designs (often screen-printed in-house by apprentices in the Textiles & Screen Printing Lab) to large-scale sculptural installations like the recently completed Luminous Current light-based installation now on view at the Guthrie Theater.
Luminous Current was installed at the Guthrie Theater in May 2019. Click here to watch a video about the creative process for this large-scale installation. New computers are just a piece of the whole range of resources and tools that make our work possible – every gift counts!
If you’re interested in donating to JXTA or in hiring our professional creative services, reach out to us at info@juxtaposition.org or give us a ring at 612.588.1148. Thank you to Wells Fargo for their support!
Photos: Ryan Stopera; Ryan Stopera; Justin Sengly; Adja Gildersleve.