This August in Brattleboro, VFC was thrilled to support a one-of-a-kind summer camp conceived and led by a group of five Afghan artists who have been making waves across southern Vermont since resettling in the area earlier this year. Abdullah, Marwa, Meetra, Negina and Zuhra are all part of ArtLords, a global Afghan-led movement using art for peace-building and social transformation. In the midst of adapting to life in a new place they have continued to make art as a through-line of their work as “artivists.”

With support from the 2022-2023 Afterschool & Summer Expanding Access Grant, VFC underwrote three summer programs this year, each with the goal of supporting the social-emotional health of youth ages 8 - 18 through engagement with traditional arts. In addition to undertaking multiple public art projects this summer, Negina, Abdullah, and fellow ArtLords leapt at the opportunity to design a unique learning experience that both drew on their expertise as artists and helped create pathways for cross-cultural connection within their new community.

“We wanted to come together and have a program with both Afghan and American kids together because we wanted to know our own cultures and also introduce the cultures and the values of [both] cultures and [both] societies for kids” said Negina. The 5-day camp met for 3-hours a day, bringing together roughly 30 kids, one third of them American and the remaining two-thirds from Brattleboro’s Afghan community.

Brattleboro’s River Gallery School of Art hosted the group for the first three days where they drew, painted, and made folded paper crafts. They closed out the week at Epsilon Spires, an event space with enough room for the group to keep their feet up and learn some traditional Afghan folk dances. The Sunday after camp ended, campers and their families reconvened at a local outdoor pavilion to share food, see the completed artwork, and enjoy a performance of the dances learned during the week.

Below are some photos from the week (photos by Jeffrey Lewis unless otherwise credited).