Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands (STSM) is partnering with Jasper Magazine and Tapp’s Arts Center to launch a new arts and anti-violence initiative called Imagine If: Envisioning a World without Violence. Imagine If invites community members to recognize, identify, and name the elements of violence around them and imagine a world in which those things do not exist.
As part of the Imagine If project, STSM is collaborating with Tapp’s Arts Center to conduct free arts workshops with community members and groups to create art of all genres and media (including visual, film, photography, creative writing, etc.) around the theme of imagining a world without violence. The first workshop will be held on Saturday, November 23, 1:00-3:00 p.m. at Tapp’s Arts Center (1644 Main St., Columbia, SC).
For this workshop, we invite people of all ages and artistic backgrounds to bring your sketchbook, notebook, and/or camera and see what inspires you as we go for a guided stroll down Main Street. Feel free to stick around at Tapp’s after the walk to write, sketch, photograph, and fellowship with other artists and community members. You don’t have to be an artist to participate, just be open and willing to delve into your pool of creativity. The workshop will be facilitated by Tapp’s Arts Center artist-in-residence Jim Dukes and local writer/teacher Brandi Perry.
The creative pieces made in these workshops can be created just for fun, for personal growth and healing, or to submit for display during Sexual Assault Awareness Month (April). STSM will use a selection of the pieces submitted through this campaign to be displayed at Tapp’s Arts Center for the April 3 kickoff for Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) and throughout the month of April.
All our workshops are free, but please register online. And if you can’t make it this month, keep an eye out for future announcements about project workshops and events.
For more information on the Imagine If project or to submit a piece, please contact STSM’s Prevention Education Coordinator Alexis Stratton at pec@stsm.org or 803-790-8208, or visit the Imagine If webpage.
— Alexis Stratton
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