We Amplify Voices
We Amplify Voices works with youth and adults across central Ohio to amplify and empower underrepresented voices through creative expression. Founded as an after-school songwriting program in 2011, WAV now provides in-school and after-school arts programming to over 1,000 students annually. WAV also hosts free events and workshops that engage, connect, and uplift high-need communities through artmaking. Their channels offer a platform for voices from incarcerated adults, to victims of human trafficking, to developmentally disabled adults- to change hearts, minds and start meaningful conversations.
THE MISSION: to heal communities through creative expression.
They bring people together with artists to share experiences, emotions, and ideas, and collectively turn those conversations into art. Then, WAV amplifies their stories to the broader community by sharing their songs, videos and artwork on local radio, streaming platforms and in public spaces to change hearts, minds and start meaningful conversations.
We Amplify Voices leads groups through a healing-centered creative process that involves different mediums from recording a radio-quality song, to drawing and painting, writing lyrics and poetry, and learning to sing and perform.
WAV sessions focus on building self-esteem, character, and collaboration skills aligned to Social Emotional Learning strategies. Through interactive activities, group discussions, mindfulness exercises and collaborative creativity, participants get to know themselves and develop respect for themselves and others, awareness of self and emotions, self-regulation, critical thinking, and problem solving skills.
WAV’s youth & adult programs have three primary goals:
To activate awareness and engagement in the communities we serve through art exercises and therapeutic conversations.
To empower participants to use their voices, listen to others, and harness the power of empathy.
To relate the story of their journey to the broader community.
WAV’s signature middle school program, WE, The Change, is now offered at several middle schools both during school hours and as after school and summer programs.
WAV also offers documentary screenings and interactive workshops for their Life Stories project; a documentary featuring the oral histories of women serving life or long sentences in prison.
85% of WAV workshop participants are in underserved and underrepresented communities.
98% of workshop participants said it helped them to get along with different kinds of people in their group.
91% of workshop participants said it helped them respond to another person’s feelings in their group.
$.50 per every bowl of ramen sold during the month of August will be donated directly to We Amplify Voices. To learn more, please visit, https://www.weamplifyvoices.org/
*You are donating directly to We Amplify Voices. Eat Justice receives 0% of the proceeds.