Artists For Humanity’s mission is to provide under-served youth with the keys to self-sufficiency through paid employment in the arts. It is built on the philosophy that exposure to the arts is a powerful force for social change, and creative entrepreneurship through the arts is a productive and life-changing opportunity for young people. Bridging economic, racial, and social divisions, AFH works to restore urban neighborhoods by introducing young people’s creativity to the business community.

At the heart of Artists For Humanity is the belief that acquiring a strong skill set is equivalent to attaining power and opportunity. We have three goals, which provide underserved youth with access to the things they need most:

•    a safe meaningful place where they are respected for their contributions,
•    an opportunity to have a voice through exhibitions, commercial services, and presentations,
•    respect and responsibility of paid employment promoting financial awareness and self esteem.

AFH’s central program, the Arts Micro-Enterprise, is a paid apprenticeship and leadership program. Youth are partnered in small groups with professional artists, designers and young artist mentors to design, create, market and sell art products. With fully equipped, staffed studios in Painting/Murals, Sculpture/Industrial Design, Screen-Printing, Graphic Design, Photography/Web Design and Fashion Beyond Design, youth and mentors collaborate on creative projects, many specifically commissioned by clients. In the process, young artists develop entrepreneurial skills as they participate in planning, product development, outreach and marketing of projects. The Arts Micro-Enterprise earned $1 million dollars in 2008.

In 1990, Susan Rodgerson began a venture that would eventually become Artists For Humanity. Susan felt the need to address the lack of arts experiences within the Boston Public School system. Her vision was to inspire a group of 13 to 14 year olds at an unban middle school to engage in the creative process through visual arts. The intent was to communicate their experiences to the larger world, thereby empowering them and educating their community. Together with six talented and dedicated young people, inspired and driven, these collaborations continued and they co-founded Artists For Humanity.  AFH began as an entrepreneurial venture that produced and marketed large-scale collaborative paintings reflecting the voice and vision of the rich cultural diversity of urban communities to Boston’s business community.

Today, AFH remains a haven for teens from every corner of the city, a place where they can explore and express their creative abilities, identify possibilities for continuing education, and most importantly, dispel the myth that the larger world is forever closed to them. AFH develops young people as leaders in social change.

Since it’s founding, four of the six founding members of Artists for Humanity continued collaborations with Susan as professional artists directing AFH and instructing teen participants. As they acquired additional academic and experiential knowledge, Susan shared greater responsibility with them. This has resulted in a self-reinforcing cycle of learning, mentoring, and giving back. Artists For Humanity has served as a model and inspiration for other projects around the globe combining arts and entrepreneurship in communities of underserved youth.

The Artists For Humanity experience consistently cultivates social justice by fusing art and enterprise within the context of respect, responsibility and meaningful relationships.

Every time a teen artist shares her artwork she allows viewers to step inside a new world to develop a greater understanding of the young, urban experience.

Every time a young person enters a corporation and converses about a graphic design project with the CEO, he becomes that successful businessperson’s peer and shifts perceptions – his own included – of a young person’s role in society.

Every time an AFH participant acts an emissary and brings young urban entrepreneurs to the studio, he reinforces the message of our young people’s pro-action and professionalism.

Every time an AFH youth approaches a storeowner in her neighborhood to use a store wall for a mural, and coalesces a mural team, she becomes a new community leader.  While using fine-tuned skills and knowledge to beautify her environment this young person empowers her friends to do likewise.

We use “every time” to describe the above events as if they are everyday occurrences for just that reason – they are!

In September 2004, Artists For Humanity completed its renewable energy powered EpiCenter, a 23,500 sq. ft. center designed and developed to house expanded programming and gallery in Boston’s Fort Point artist district. This is a facility completely dedicated to the voice, vision and virtuosity of urban teens. It is the outgrowth of Artists For Humanity’s dedication to environmental sustainability. The EpiCenter’s design blends beautiful form with industrious function; every aspect conserves or produces energy while providing Boston’s young people with state-of-the art studio and gallery space.

In October 2005, the United States Green Building Council awarded the Artists For Humanity EpiCenter a LEED Platinum certification – the highest honor for sustainable architecture. The EpiCenter has been recognized with over a dozen awards for design and engineering excellence including the 2007 Rudy Bruner Award Silver Medal and being named one of the American Institute of Architect’s Top Ten Sustainable Projects in nation.

The EpiCenter features a 49-kilowatt photovoltaic array mounted onto a sloped roof to provide for the majority of the building’s electricity needs. Eschewing air-conditioning, a nighttime natural ventilation system keeps the building cool and comfortable. These technologies along with other sustainability measures and responsible building operation allow Artists For Humanity to save almost $70,000 annually in avoided electricity and natural gas costs versus the traditional building.
   
These awards, technologies, and savings were all achieved within a community based non-profit’s budget. The construction was completed for $183 per square foot, on the low end of standard building construction cost in Boston for 2004.