Painting, poetry, photography, sewing, even songwriting. These are some of the arts activities that Gianna Rodriguez and the organization Baltimore Youth Artsbring to young people across Baltimore.
Baltimore Youth Arts, which is run by artists, provides artistic and professional opportunities to teens; it tries to empower them to become leaders in their communities. Gianna Rodriguez, who started Baltimore Youth Arts, has just received a community fellowship from the Open Society Institute Baltimore. Like the nine other fellows, Rodriguez will receive $60,000 over the next 18 months to fund a local project. The nonprofit Open Society Institute focuses on the needs of Baltimore’s underserved communities, and Gianna Rodriguez’s project focuses one such community: formerly incarcerated young people who have returned to their communities.