Latest news from Art from Ashes!

Celeste and Jessica

Staff Updates

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A March Hare and Thin Mints

Featured AfA Staff Members

Article written by Becca Hannigan

If you haven’t been able to spend time with and get to know either Celeste Seiler or Jessica Jarrard, I’m here to recommend doing so. They were kind enough to take some time out of their workday in the AfA office to chat and tell me about themselves (and each other at some points in the discussion) and their new positions within the organization. Here’s a brief rundown of some things I learned about their work at AfA and lives otherwise:

Celeste Seiler (Michele Skye on social media): Agency Administrator
From: San Antonio, Texas
Celeste is married to a CMT and RN and is the mother of two girls, age three and five.
Journey at AfA: Celeste began by volunteering, then worked as an intern last January. She moved into a position as Agency Administrator/Program Manager in April 2018.
Excited about: “A lot of new things that we (AfA) are establishing: new relationships, coming up with plans to generate more funds, and getting out in the community even more.”
Character from Alice in Wonderland she’s most like: “White Rabbit. I always have a sense of urgency about me. I can’t be late.”
Takes her tea: “Plain.”
Loves (other than AfA): “To cook. It’s my thing that makes the stress melt away. I love southern comfort food. Mexican food is my favorite. I make an awesome enchilada casserole.” (check out her [old] blog, featuring delicious vegan recipes: compassionatetummies.blog
Olive oil or butter? “I’ve been a vegan for seven years this month. So probably olive oil.”
Other info she wants to share about AfA: “We became members of the Art District on Santa Fe last year, which means we have the opportunity to be part of ‘The Art of Brunch.’ It will be once a month, on the last Sunday of March, April, and May, from 11-3pm each day. It’s basically like an open house for art, poetry and music.
“I signed up to do the Colfax Marathon. We need more people to sign up!” [just put Art from Ashes in as your charity when registering: www.runcolfax.org/runner-info/run-for-a-nonprofit ]
“AfA’s 2019 calendars have been printed! We’ve been asking for a $50, but since we have about a dozen left and it’s well into the year, we’re asking for $20. It’s full of beautiful youth artwork and poetry!” [donate here and request the calendar in your note: bit.ly/donateafa]
Other badges she wears (We’re guessing she needs a sash for all these badges): President of the PTA and Girl Scout Cookie Sales Manager “I’m way too involved in everything. I keep busy.”
Favorite Girl Scout cookie: “Thin Mints are the only vegan ones. Before I was vegan, I really liked the Trefoils.”

Jessica Jarrard: Director of Operations
From: North Carolina, in a small town near Winston, Salem
Journey at AfA: Jessica started as a volunteer in 2014, working in communications and grant writing. She was on the Board of Directors for several years and is now the Director of Operations. As D of O, she oversees volunteers, FUNdevelopment, HR, and community collaborations, AKA making sure that everyone knows about us.
Excited about: “We’re just really excited to look at new ways to develop funds and new opportunities for serving more young people, along with increasing volunteer engagement—because it’s all so connected. You get more people involved, then new things start to happen, which means you have more to communicate and thus need more people to help communicate, and on and on.”
“Denver’s changing. There are many new organizations out there, and a lot going on, which means we have more opportunities for collaborating. AfA also recently won the Denver Mayor’s Award, which is helping us boost our potential partnerships and collaborations.”
Character from Alice in Wonderland she’s most like: (after much discussion/contemplation) “I guess you could say I’m the March Hare, because it’s always tea time. I do love tea parties…but I’m not crazy! Much.”
On the subject of tea: “I love all tea.”
Loves (other than AfA and tea): “I like to be outside. To hike. I’ve done 35 of the Colorado 14ers. The Wetterhorn is my favorite.”
Favorite local trail: “The Chicago Lakes trail.”
Pets: Jessica is the mother of “an adorable husky mix, Bernie.”
Favorite Girl Scout cookie: “Thin mints in the freezer. Tagalongs, too.”

Photo of founderJim Darling

Catherine O’Neill Thorn Honored As A Westword Colorado Creative

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100 Colorado Creatives are chosen by journalist and artist Susan Froyd for the Westword honor and published on their site (below). You can read the Executive Director of AfA’s thoughtful and often irreverant ideas on the state of the arts in Colorado and her personal motivations and inspiration for her work. Susan’s Facebook post is also linked below.

Click here for the story in Westword

Click here for the Facebook post

2018 Westword Article

ROTG Recap

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Running of the Gays flyerby Boone Riddle

High heels and high spirits, open hearts and open bar tabs, tears and twerking, performance and passion. At the intersection of activism and celebration, where vulnerable expression and raunchy comedy are served up in spades, where dedicated warriors pour out their souls as they pour another cocktail—THIS is Running of the Gays. 

The 9th Annual Running of the Gays once again put on this faux marathon in heels to highlight the brilliance of our youth. A silly event with the serious purpose of supporting empowerment workshops for queer youth.  

Our 2018 event was both a familiar family reunion, and a leap forward for our organization. Our incredible youth poets captivated the audience with open, raw, and frequently hilarious expressions of their struggles and their victories. Other performers threw down sultry musical performances as the crowd cheered and tipped and begged for more. However they chose to express themselves, the showcase of talent from our youth performers was a powerful, tangible display of their hearts—and AfA’s work to facilitate their transformation.

Running of the Gays continues to gain visibility with local media, community, and supporters. Many new faces joined the team and gave their all to make this event happen. Running of the Gays was even featured on the FOX31 network! Our incredible network of staff, volunteers, and donors is stronger than ever. Planning for next year’s Running of the Gays is already underway! This is all made possible by your support for Art from Ashes. Thank you. We’ll see you at the 10th Annual Running of the Gays next year!

Thank you to our 2018 sponsors!

Ace Eat Serve

Steubens

Outfront

Fleur Salon

X Bar

The Bank of Denver

Charlie's Nightclub Denver

Pizzeria Locale

For some hilarious photos and videos of the event, check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/RunningOfTheGays/

To Need Or Not To Need

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To need or not to need?

(download or view as a pdf: here)

I haven’t used the word “need” in a direct request in 15 years, since the inception of Art from Ashes. At that time, I was convinced that because our process and our results were so amazing and innovative (which they are), as we shared our work with people, we would soon have enough funds to spread our programs of connection and power through creative expression all over the world within a few years!! (In my defense, it wasn’t so much naiveté as a sincere combination of trust and faith…which, now that I think of it, could be considered naiveté. ????????‍♀️)

Turns out, although our unique creative process sets us apart, like all the other nonprofits doing awesome work, we have indeed had to—and continue to—spend countless hours of agency time and tons of resources writing grants and grant reports, seeking donations, doing statistical analysis, managing a database, communicating in a way that inspires and engages people, holding events, recruiting and nurturing volunteers—not to mention paying the bills and of course paying the lovely and hardworking people who must pay their bills.

Over the past 15 months, Art from Ashes also had to face the challenge of my cancer diagnosis. Although I have worked the entire time I’ve been fighting cancer, staying as financially stable as in previous years has been demanding, and hope has sometimes seemed elusive. Yet hope and empowerment are exactly what AfA provides. They are as vital to existence as more tangible things like food and clothing—just ask anyone who is fighting for their life. Donating to AfA provides hope to a population that may otherwise not be served. So, yes. We need you. The youth need you. 

What we do STILL works like magic. What we do is still changing the world for thousands of youth, as well as improving the landscape of our communities. And what we do is still unique and special—just like the young people we serve (544 to date in 2018, plus another 100+ who signed in but didn’t fill out intake forms).

Our amazing results have won us numerous awards, and we hope you’ll join us in our continued success, so we can accomplish even more. Art from Ashes needs $20,000 in financial support by year’s end to help us increase the number of youth served in 2019 to 750 and to add transformational dance and movement to our program offerings!

There are at least five ways you can support AfA during this Season of Light and time of generosity and thanksgiving. We hope you will consider one or more:

  1. #GivingTuesday! This Tuesday, November 27, Facebook has teamed up with Paypal to MATCH ALL DONATIONS through Facebook fundraisers. You can either start a fundraiser (instructions here) and select Art from Ashes (look for our logo) or give to an existing one (link to ours!). Please do one or maybe even both!
  2. PayPal Gives Back! If you want to donate directly through PayPal with your account, they’ll be increasing all holiday giving by 1% through PayPal’s donate page and the PayPal app from November 27 through December 31. That’s sweet! No fees, either! Any size donation this holiday will be worth that little bit extra.
  3. Colorado Gives Day! Every year, Community First Foundation and FirstBank present a statewide movement that celebrates and increases philanthropy in Colorado. There is a $1 million incentive fund and we get a little piece of it depending on how much is donated during the 24 hours starting at 12:01am on December 4th. HOWEVER, you can plan ahead and give now, allocating the donation to CO Gives Day! We hope you will include us when you give this year.
  4. Celebration of Light! Each year on Colorado Gives Day, we invite all of our past, present and future partners, volunteers, guest artists and poets, youth participants, donors and grantors to a holiday party that celebrates this season of light. Our events team has been hard at work planning this wonderful event. We would love to see you and show you what we’re up to in our beautiful space at 10th and Navajo.
  5. Volunteer! Most of our volunteers also work full-time jobs, and while we ask only 6 hours a month, that can be difficult for many. If you have six hours a month to give, we would love board members, interns and people skilled in communications, events planning, grant writing, FunDevelopment, database management, office work, and anything else essential to running a business. We also provide training for facilitation if you’d like to work directly with our young people. Apply here!

Well, there, I did it. To need or not to need? The answer is we need you now more than ever. And because giving is a blessing, we hope you will consider blessing yourself and the youth we serve before the end of the year.

With trust and faith (still),  

Catherine

PS. Pre-order our 2019 Art from Ashes youth art/poetry calendar! Just be sure to request the calendar when you make a $50 donation.

Also, check out our holiday letter and read about my cancer treatment update.

2018 Colorado Gives Day

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Colorado Gives Day is December 4th this year, and your donation carries even more weight because of a FirstBank incentive fund. We would love you to consider Art from Ashes youth as the beneficiaries of your generosity.

We’re also having a Celebration of Light Holiday Party at our location on 10th and Navajo between 7 and 9 pm to celebrate our donors and youth and staff and board and volunteers and… well, everyone who has made AfA possible for the past 15 years!

And if you would rather give early, you can do that, too, by selecting the CO GIVES DAY button when donating .

We could really use the support, this year in particular. Please help out with however much you are able! http://bit.ly/afacogivesday

You can schedule your COGivesDay donation early! Here’s how (really, just click the little box that says CO Gives Day when donating):

2018 Holiday Letter

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Thank you for taking the time to read the news of AfA! This holiday season, we hope you will be blessed with love, health, and hope, in the same way that we reach out to bless the most vulnerable in our community through poetry and art and a belief in their value.

Hopefully you can join us for the holiday party on the 4th (invitation below)!

Meanwhile, here’s what we have to share during this wonderful season of light:

(read the pdf of our 2018-Annual Request Letter or read text below)

Happy Holidays from Kumi!  

My name is Kumi, and I am 18 years old. This holiday season, I’d like to share my story of transformation with you.

Before Art from Ashes, I was just an empty shell named Kumi, and I had a degree in making bad decisions. Now I’m getting a different kind of degree at CCD, thanks in large part to Art from Ashes! 

I was full of creativity, hidden behind a door barred shut by my enemy Bipolar Disorder. I was frustrated, depressed, ecstatic, and powerless. Imagine trying to defeat a monster with only a bottle of pills, the wrong kind of friends, and bad love relationships. Doesn’t make much sense, right? 

But then Art from Ashes came to our Creative Writing class at Endeavor Academy. I was so excited about how easy it was to let out my creativity in the form of poetry. I didn’t really ever do much poetry before, so it was new and interesting…and soon it became my favorite thing to do. 

I finally had something new to fight my monster with and you better believe I felt empowered! I felt strong with my new weapon and confident in my new skills. I learned the power of my voice as I read my poetry to the people willing to listen, and I learned how to conquer my fears. And with Art from Ashes, I learned to help empower others, as well.

Art from Ashes was able to come to Endeavor Academy because of generous donations from community members just like you. I’d like to thank you for your support and ask that you please consider financially supporting Art from Ashes this holiday season so that more youth can experience empowerment and transformation through art and poetry.

—Kumi Avila, Youth Representative to the Art from Ashes Board of Directors

Here’s what your generous donation provides:

  • At Art from Ashes, we believe in paying artists! Your donation of $50 provides an honorarium for a guest poet or artist to inspire and motivate the young people in our workshops.
  • We spend more than $1000 a year providing an honorarium to youth who perform their poetry for the community! Any amount you designate can support that goal!
  • We believe in healthy food and LOTS of water for youth. Your donation of $50 will provide enough food and water for one 2-hour workshop for up to 20 young people! How many workshops would you like to support?
  • A monthly donation of $100 will provide writing and art materials for four of our weekly drop-in workshops, held every Wednesday (Phoenix Rising) and Thursday (Drawing on Air Creative Time).
  • A one-time gift of $2000 will support a year’s worth of weekly workshops for a struggling youth. 
  • A one-time gift of $5000 will provide the cost of an 8-workshop program for 20 youth ($15/hr. per youth), which would include operating costs as well as program expenses.
  • Of course, we would very much appreciate any amount you’re willing to donate!

Does your employer match your donation? Please let us know!

And we hope you’ll come to our Annual Celebration of Light Party on Colorado Gives Day, Dec 4th from 7 to 9 pm at Art from Ashes, 1310 west 10th ave, denver

Happy Season of Light from the board and staff of AfA! 

We hope you enjoyed Kumi’s powerful story of transformation. Stories like Kumi’s, and the stories we’ve heard from countless other young people over the years, remind us why we exist and inspire us to continue this important work. Colorado Gives Day is Tuesday, December 4th—a day that allows our generous donors to contribute towards that beautiful goal. During that 24-hour period your donation counts more than any other time.

Speaking of years…on October 10, Art from Ashes celebrated its 15th anniversary! That’s 15 years of young people discovering their creative genius through our unique and innovative programs. At Art from Ashes, we believe that by discovering their creativity, young people are empowered through art and poetry to find their voice, change their stories, and transform their lives. And as numerous studies and our own surveys have shown, it works.

In 2018, Art from Ashes experienced a few transformations as well:

  • AfA won the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Arts and Culture! This prestigious award is given to organizations that make significant and lasting contributions in the City and County of Denver. What a great way to celebrate our 15th anniversary!
  • AfA merged with Violet Hive’s Art As Healing youth program, a nonprofit organization that shares our belief that art facilitates empowerment and healing. Founder of Violet Hive, Amy Leiter, joined the AfA staff; Bridget Hofstadter of Violet Hive is now our volunteer coordinator; and both are trained Phoenix Rising facilitators who have expanded our weekly Creative Time drop-in workshops!
  • Our programs and the work we do with youth in the community were highlighted on CBS4 and Fox Network, helping to send our message of hope and transformation to thousands of people.
  • AfA hosted and facilitated a workshop for the World Denver Iraqi Youth Delegation.
  • AfA has now partnered with more than 180 organizations to serve nearly 13,000 young people! 

In addition to our ongoing workshops in the community and weekly on-site workshops, young people have shared their stories and their voices at a number of events in 2018. Some of these events include monthly First Friday performances at AfA, the Mercury Café’s 30th Annual Poetry Rodeo, the Youth Voices in Recovery poetry performance, and AfA’s 9th Annual Running of the Gays. Additionally, two of our youth poets were featured at the 2018 Denver Women’s March, where they performed in front of thousands of people! 

Seeing the magic happen in workshops and watching the transformation of both youth and community members during performances and art shows re-ignites our passion for the work we do and leaves us energized for a groundbreaking future:

  • Next year Violet Hive artists and AfA staff will expand the Drawing on Air curriculum, which is built on the foundation of our award-winning Phoenix Rising program.
  • Of our existing trained facilitators, two are professional dancers interested in expanding and facilitating our Wingspan program, which we hope to launch by the end of 2019.

Our programs are magical, but we can’t soar without you. We hope you will help us meet our goal to serve even more youth in 2019. Please consider making a holiday contribution to provide creative empowerment workshops to the young people in our community.

With gratitude and joy,

The Art from Ashes staff, board, facilitators, contractors and volunteers

Catherine O’Neill Thorn, Celeste Seiler, Bridget Hofstadter, Sarah Lanzarotta, Samantha Albala, Savannah Arterburn, Tiffany Bowden, Amy Leiter, Marie Verrett, Carolyn Klier, Lewis Lease, Jessica Jarrard, Susie Martin, Johnnie Thorn, Kumi Avila, plus 63 interns, volunteers, and guest poets/artists!

PS. For those of you who have been supporting, praying for, and thinking of Catherine as she has journeyed through this difficult past year, you can find her medical update on our website here: www.artfromashes.org/category/news

Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture

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Art from Ashes is the 2018 winner of the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Arts & Culture: Youth Award

The award is presented to an organization that has significantly impacted the lives of youth in the City and County of Denver through the arts.

[popup_trigger id=”8113″ tag=”button”]En Español[/popup_trigger]

Thank you to the selection committee for the Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts & Culture (including Erika Righter of Hope Tank), who honored Art from Ashes with the Youth Award!

Also honored were Dorothy Tanner (Innovation Award), Su Teatro Cultural and Performing Arts Center (Global Award), Colorado Ballet/Keya Clairmont (IMAGINE 2020 Award), and René Heredia Flamenco Fantasy Dance Theatre (Impact Award). Thank you to Mayor Hancock, and Denver Arts & Venues, particularly Tariana Navas-Nieves, Becky Grupe and Brooke Dilling who set up the whole event!

Thank you also to Indigenous artist Jonathan Nelson for the beautiful journals, desserts from woman-owned Sugar Bakeshop and Coffee House, awards from Access Gallery, and event photography from veteran photographers, TASK FORCE ISO.

Thank you to emcees Suzi Q. Smith and Rachel Bayse, and for the great music by David Ochoa!

And we are so grateful for the wonderful work of Zerosun for this most amazing video!

Catherine’s Cancer Treatment Update

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Friends have made the difference between life and death.

Hi, there, friends of AfA!

It has been 14 months since my diagnosis of stage 3 breast cancer and it’s been a freaky, frightening, enlightening journey.

For those of you who want the short and sweet (and it is sweet):

Many of the initial test findings were incorrect (stage 2, HER2-negative, misplaced markers and an erroneous treatment plan), and over the course of several months, I was given numerous bad news bulletins from my incredible oncologist at CU Health: Turns out I was not stage 2 but stage 3, possibly stage 4 (turned out to be stage 3… phew!); I did, in fact, need four months of chemotherapy, plus surgery, plus six weeks of daily radiation; on top of that I tested as HER2-positive, not negative, which meant another year of infusions (currently in my 5th month!) and a lifetime supply of anti-cancer meds.

BOTTOM LINE: I am alive and cancer free!!

With the help of some awesome people (see the annual holiday letter for several of those names, but there were many, many more), I have continued to work throughout it all and managed to weather the resultant storms. It certainly has been quite a bit of work—fighting for my life and fighting to ensure the agency fulfills its mission takes some effort. Although AfA didn’t do as well as we could have financially, it also could have been a helluva lot worse if it weren’t for the people surrounding me with love and capably holding the agency.

Funders have been forgiving and helpful; donors have been loyal; the new staff members believe in our mission and walk the talk of kindness and compassion; facilitators faithfully serve the youth; board members and other volunteers have played a significant role in our success; the young people keep coming through the doors; and the stats remain impressive. Not only that, but we were just notified that we have won the 2018 Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts! Pretty cool accomplishment after a pretty rough year.

For those of you who wish to know a few of our other accomplishments in 2018, please read our annual holiday letter, which gives a quick rundown of what we’ve been doing. In February when all the data is in, we’ll publish our annual report with more detailed information.

Thank you so much for your support of our agency, which helps me continue to fight for myself. I couldn’t do it without all the love I’ve received.

If you’d like to give a year-end gift, please do through ColoradoGives or Paypal Giving Fund ❤️

Here’s something I wrote for my friends recently when the struggle was seemingly ongoing:

A little more than a year ago I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. I’ve been wondering for the past several weeks what I wanted to say about that. Something to mark the anniversary of the day I realized I may not live the future I had imagined for myself—or may not have a future at all. I can’t settle on anything in particular other than to be grateful for all the love and support I’ve received in the past year and oddly to be grateful for those who couldn’t provide anything. Because I’ve learned a lot about relationships during this time. As someone who believes that relationships are the entire reason we’re on the planet, this has been quite the spiritual education.

So here’s what I am grateful for:

All the people who jumped in and did what they could to help me stay afloat while I was reeling from the news. 

All the people who came alongside me while I suffered through one painful treatment after another. 

All the people who sacrificed their time and their money to keep me alive (quite literally…staying alive is expensive). 

All the people who popped in and out with a word or a meal or a present or poem or gift of service. 

All those who left. And who were unkind. Because now I know. 

All those who did the REALLY difficult work of being with me when my mind was in despair. Because hanging out with someone who is angry or depressed or discouraged is usually harder than hanging out with someone who is physically ill. And I have been both at the same time. 

All those who helped keep Art from Ashes going when I wasn’t able to give as much as was needed.

All those who forgive me. 

And those who are still here. Who haven’t given up. Who continue to show up. Who realize my journey isn’t over and have not grown tired of being with me. You have taught me the most about how to be like Jesus in the world. Because I usually forget to do that myself, and it’s so much easier to see when you are the one in need.

By summer of 2019 I should be done with my treatment and my oncologist says I will have my energy back. I will always have pain and some difficult effects from the fight for my life, but he says he is pretty sure I’ll be cured at the end of all this. While nothing is certain, I can’t express enough how blessed I am for the role my friends—and the occasional stranger—have played in this life and death drama I found myself starring in. 

I will continue to fight. And I will continue to laugh. And I absolutely will continue to be a pain in the ass and do many things badly and do a few things right.

young man reading his poetry

CBS Denver Features Art from Ashes

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Art from Ashes youth and executive director were featured on CBS4’s This Morning Show on March 26, 2018

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