Gadsden Arts Center and MuseumPartner Story

To complement the multi-site exhibition, Mary Proctor: I Am Just the Messenger, Gadsden Arts borrowed Norman Lewis’s artwork, Untitled (Subway Station). These exhibitions highlighted two unique artistic visions of the Black experience in America, one self-taught and the other formally trained.

This project facilitated the Museum’s efforts to reach Gadsden and Leon County teens with transformative programming, which led to the establishment of a Teen Art Council.

The Teen Art Council consisted of 18 students (20 invited), who engaged with the Museum both in person and virtually during weekly meetings, and were instrumental in the following programs:

1. An all-day field trip to three local arts organizations: the Tallahassee Museum, 621 Gallery, and the studio of artist, Mark Dickson

2. Three in person visits to Gadsden Arts Center & Museum for hands-on workshops and programming

3. Seven special guest presentations and demonstrations: Mary L. Proctor; Colin Brady; eight employees of Florida State University's radio station, WFSU, representing the Education, Radio, and Television production departments; Kabuya Bowens-Saffo; Mark Dickson; April Cluess; and Magdalena LaMarre

4. Art Talk Live: Envisioned Pathways, a public artist talk presentation by the Teen Art Council

5. Envisioned Pathways, an exhibition of artworks created by the Teen Art Council inspired by the work of Mary L. Proctor, Norman Lewis, and Kabuya Bownes-Saffo

6. Envisioned Pathways catalog and logo designed by the Teen Art Council

7. Art All Day family event at the museum during Quincy’s Mistletoe Market community winter festival

Working across two counties, the teens acted as Gadsden Arts representatives in their homes and schools. The audiences they gathered represent communities the Museum would not usually meet.

Audiences for the teens’ programs and events were their peers and families, in addition to the diverse general audience and museum members served by Gadsden Arts.

Gadsden Arts' overall goal for this program was to provide a diverse group of teens with a transformative experience, broadening their understanding of culturally significant art, and their potential future careers in the arts.

This project allowed for diverse, transformative curriculum to be developed not only by the museum, but with the community it serves through the Teen Art Council. Through engagement with art-interested teens, the museum created new opportunities for learning and engagement in the Gadsden and Leon County communities.