You might spot a non-motorized go kart traveling through various Rochester neighborhoods starting today and through the rest of the spring and summer.
It's a vehicle for a series of community-based art projects, but it's about much more than art.
A group of students from Alfred University called "Art Force Five" hope to tap into people's creativity to find solutions to social justice issues ranging from poverty to criminal justice and education.
All but one of the Art Force Five team is from Rochester. Mawia Elawad is a graduate of the School of the Arts. She says the team will be asking people to paint small tiles that will make up mosaics depicting the various issues.
"I know people have a lot of fears with just being addressed by strangers, so I guess I'm going to be that stranger in a sense, addressing them, 'Hey, let's paint something together!' At the end of the day, it's going to be something beautiful."
While they're doing that, the students will talk to them about services available in the community.
"Maybe a youth who is living on the streets or who is disconnected from their family can then see that we are doing a mosaic related to homelessness in the Rochester community,” said DeAndre Vaden, “and then I can relay information to them that the Center for Youth has facilities that allow you to go in for food. You can drop in for clothes, and they have emergency shelters you can stay in just until you have time to get back on your feet."
The students are looking for a permanent place to display the mosaics once they're done.
The first mosaic, addressing poverty, will be created on Tuesday. You can track the location of the Art Force Five team on Twitter @Drawn2Diversity, through the hashtags #ArtForce5 and #UniteRochester, and on their website drawntodiversity.culturalunity.org
The Art Force Five team members will spend the spring and summer as interns as various government offices and media outlets, including WXXI, Democrat & Chronicle, Monroe County District Attorney’s office, Center for Youth, and the Department of Recreation and Youth Services.
