BuildaBridge Community Programs

"We want to tell our story.  We want our grandchildren to know our story. We want that to be preserved." The quote above from the Bhutanese elders living in South Philadelphia is the foundation of an art group that assists elders in creating a mural that tells their story.  As part of the Philadelphia Partnership for Resilience Collaborative, BuildaBridge artists Stevie French and Julie Rosen lead a group of elders in processing their histories through art.  Julie Shaw, of the Philadelphia Daily News recently highlighted the group. Read her article here .  View photos of the group here .

Participants in BuildaBridge's Saturday art groups, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, wrote "I AM" poems their first day of group.  On the last day of group, three participants recited their poems before a camera. The "I AM" poem provided prompts for participants to reflect on their individual qualities, characteristics, beliefs, hopes and dreams.  The accompanying art-making experience on that first day involved the creation of an individual mandala which then became part of a group mandala.  Self-exploration through various visual art mediums was the focus for the remaining five groups, assisting participants in developing their identity in a new culture and in community with one another.  Groups were held at Souderton Mennonite Church from July to September. See the other two videos here.

Every artist is familiar with the paralysis brought on by the challenge of a blank canvas; the smooth, white, pristine expanse daring you to put down your first mark.  Today, our group of Bhutanese Elders may have experienced this for the first time. They faced it, fought with it and conquered it. Week after week, I am struck and inspired by the smiles and spiritual calm of our group members who have endured and thrived through so much hardship in their lives. While sharing their stories through drawn symbols and words, they have given us hints as to what underlies their ability to live in gratitude and grace. This strength and character, however, did not make them immune to the fear of the seemingly small challenge before them. When we announced that this was the day they would start their mural, actually putting colored marks onto the large canvas (mind you traced ones over our penciled sketch), they unanimously declined.  There was a long pause and then a rash of heated Nep...

BuildaBridge completed Year 3 activities of the Philadelphia Refugee Mental Health Collaborative on June 30th, 2014.  Funding continued from the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual DisAbility Services, the Sheila Fortune Foundation and Union Benevolent Association.  Seventy-six refugees from three different populations were served during the past year. Read the full Year 3 Report. BuildaBridge would like to honor and thank the following artists who have contributed to the success of the Refugee Project for at least two or more years: Celeste Wade Natalie Hoffmann Julia Crawford Christine Byma Jessica LaBarca Robert Kelleher Stevie French Danielle Owen Liz Green For full biography and current position information, see the Personnel page .

As part of Nationalities Services Center's (NSC) Refugee Employment and Advancement Program (REAP), BuildaBridge teaching artists Francesca and Stevie provide weekly therapeutic art groups that seek to teach English, occupational and life skills to participants through drama, movement and the visual arts.  For the past two weeks, participants, who are adult refugees from numerous countries in the English as a Second Language (ESL) class, created masks out of paper mache and decorative ornamental items.  During the most recent class, participants were asked to express a movement of their mask (shown in the photo above) and describe their mask in written English.  In their written descriptions, with prompts from the teaching artists, their masks communicated participants' cultures, personal identities and journeys; they communicated their hopes, feelings and dreams.  This exercise was also practice for reading and writing in English. Drama exercises are incorporated th...

Click the image to see more photos Bhutanese elders are telling their story through art.  Using a variety of art mediums, including painting as shown in these photos, the elders are working towards the creation of two permanent pieces that will communicate their journey and message to the next generation.  As part of BuildaBridge's contracted partnership with Nationalities Services Center for the Philadelphia Partnership for Resilience, BuildaBridge artists provide twice monthly art classes for the elders in South Philadelphia. 

      The Philadelphia Partnership for Resilience (PPR) has been pleased to partner with BuildaBridge International since July 2013 in the provision of therapeutic arts groups for immigrant and refugee survivors of torture for the past year.  Through this partnership, we have been able to utilize the healing power of the arts to serve new Americans migrating from Iraq, Sudan, Eritrea, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, and others.        Many of our clients arrive in Philadelphia without family or friends in the region.  They balance the demands of learning English, searching for and starting their first jobs in the United States, attending to medical needs, acculturating, and raising children.  Many of them are struggling with the emotional impact of their torture and trauma history, and the grief and loss associated with forced migration and fleeing persecution.  Torture survivors may experience isolation stemming from feeling as though oth...