Our Process for Change

"Our strategy should be not only to confront empire but to lay siege to it. To deprive it of oxygen...With our art, our music, our literature, our stubbornness, our joy, our brilliance, our sheer relentlessness - and our ability to tell our own stories. Stories that are different from the ones we're being brainwashed to believe." - ARUNDHATI ROY, 2013

mission

The mission is to have a space for young folxs to artistically resist the decentering of their power, rights, and identities.

VISION

The vision is a world where all young people having the strength and knowledge to stand up for their needs and end adultism, the systematic mistreatment and disrespect of young people​.​

VALUES

We support the core values of the national Creative Youth Development movement: racial equity and social justice, youth voice, and collective action.

We have also created five values that are integrated throughout our work and spaces. See this PDF for a closer look.

​HOW WE LIBERATE OURSELVES & OUR COMMUNITY
four things woven in everything we do

Power analysis​

Using an intersectionality framework to grow an understanding of power
flowing within overlapping
​systems of oppression. 

History of Family, Place, and Self​

Understanding where we come from (family), the history of the land we occupy (place), and our generational trauma that influences who we are. 

Joy, Love, Healthy Intimacy

If we are not generous, loving, and joyful with ourselves, we cannot be the same with others.
​

Dreaming our Future: To build COMMUNITY LAND TRUST, CO-owned by Young people

Not only home to art studios, but a large kitchen for community meals where we eat and cook food together; a garden and farm to grow our foods; showers with hot water for those with none; lounge space to relax together and play games; wardrobe closet to swap clothing; a place for cleaning laundry to save our personal funds from laundromats; resources and professional support for our mental health; library for liberation and knowledge sharing; enterprise through an art gallery, coffee shop, small grocery, and printing press; and transitional housing for youth.

​A collaborative place home to Phoenix youth and their adult accomplices to explore the intersection of arts & culture, the humanities, civic leadership, health & wellness, and social enterprise.

"The United States has built a culture that deems people under the age of 18 (children/youth) as inferior to people over the age of 18 (adults). U.S. culture centers safety for young people and from young people; either needing protection from society, “passive beneficiaries of charitable assistance” (International Institute for Child Rights and Development, 2007) or society needing protection from youth, labeling them “violent, criminal, drop outs, gangsters” (Mestizo Arts and Activism Collective, 2008). Furthermore, young people are invisibilized and de-centered in laws and policies. They have no rights to vote, own property, or legally establish business on one’s own. And yet, society expects youth to be fully contributing citizens when they turn 18.

A concept shift from keeping youth safe to letting youth lead requires an analysis of how power flows between youth and adults. As done with any marginalized group, young people must have a pathway to participate in discussions that directly affect their lives." 

- Ashley Hare
Working with Youth, Creative Youth Development Landscape Analysis

RE:FRAME YOUTH ARTS CENTER is a space to center the knowledge and experience of young people, before they are 18 years old. We are reimagining what it looks like for youth and adults to share leadership space to support their community."