Founder, Executive/Artistic Director
GREGORY BURDETT MAXIM/MRN
Video Mentor
GENARO ORTEGA
Painting Mentor
GEORGE MALLET
Community Network Director
Artists For Humanity (AFH) provides under-resourced teens the keys to self-sufficiency through paid employment in art and design.
AFH is built on the philosophy that engagement in the creative process is a powerful force for social change, and that creative entrepreneurship is a productive and life-changing opportunity for young people.
Bridging economic, racial, and social divisions, AFH enriches urban communities by introducing young people's creativity to the business community.
AFH began with an imperative – to address the lack of arts experiences within the Boston Public School system – and with an ambitious, unconventional idea – young people can provide, through their innate talent and vision, contemporary creative services to the business community. Training and employing urban teens offers them a key solution to economic disenfranchisement and has a resounding effect on their lives, their families, and their communities. AFH employs 325+ Boston teens annually in paid apprenticeship in the visual arts and creative industries; and we immerse an additional 500+ children and youth in arts exploration experiences through Visual Arts Residencies and other partnerships at Boston public schools.
Since 2004, when we constructed Boston’s first Platinum LEED-certified facility, the Artists For Humanity EpiCenter, AFH has continued to bring leadership and vision to our work in the community. We have grown exponentially as a youth and cultural community resource, a successful enterprise, and a center for economic and environmental sustainability. The EpiCenter serves our youth apprentices and the greater community as a learning laboratory in creative industries, environmental sciences and renewable technologies. It has inspired us to formalize interdisciplinary arts and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) learning – or STEAM! – in our studios. AFH continues to pioneer opportunities for youth to utilize creativity, industry and innovation toward an overarching goal of preparing them for emerging trends in workforce and educational pathways.
Jobs with wages
Opportunities to create fine art and design solutions
Intensive mentorship
An introduction to exciting career possibilities
Experiential arts and STEM learning
A fun, productive place to spend after school
AFH fuses art-making, entrepreneurial and business training, experiential arts and STEM learning and audience engagement to create empowering and transformational experiences for Boston teens. The Youth Arts Enterprise places these experiences within the context of teen employment to underscore the value of the art and design in the current and future global economy.
Robert Sachs
William Stanton
Caroline Taggart
Lannhi Tran
Lisa Tung
Bradley Vernatter
Clara Wainwright
David Walek
John Weil
Deanne Wherry
Bob Wiggins
Rebecca Kellogg
Mel King
Eric Kramer
Misia Landau
Mark Lank
Jake Lemle
Lisa S. Lenon
Helene Lieb
Klaudia Mally
Michele May
Robert Pittinger
Chris Rifkin
Adele Fleet Bacow
Lawrence S. Bacow
Julie Bowden
John Cannistraro, Jr.
Alexander Caron
Susan Culman
Amy d'Ablemont Burnes
Kevin Dennis
Linda Durant
Spencer Glendon
Richard Grudzinski
Bonny Katzman
For over 28 years, AFH has employed over 5,000 young people and engaged an additional 12,000 youth in art and enterprise activities. We have also received many awards, gained national recognition and been studied extensively as an exemplar of youth empowerment, community arts, and effective mentorship. Our model has been disseminated internationally to organizations that utilize our framework of respect, relationships, and responsibility to empower young people in their communities.
SELECT ORGANIZATIONS implementing the AFH model
RiverzEdge Arts Project (Woonsocket, RI)
MyArts (Kansas City, KS)
The Art Connection (North Little Rock, AR)
Young Creative Agency (New Orleans, LA)
Bromley by Bow (London, England)
Art Telling (Haifa, Israel)
Mint Artists Guild (Detroit, MI)
Los Altos United Methodist Church (Los Altos, CA)
Une coopérative d’éducation à l’entrepreneuriat collectif aux Mureaux
(Mureaux, France)
Artists For Humanity's History
Yaro Pan, Board Chair
Wellington Management
Managing Director
Nina Nicolosi
Huntington Theater Company
Director of Human Resources
David Nagahiro
CBT Architects
Principal
Valerie Francis,
Knowhere Art Gallery, Global Head of Knowledge
Natalie Lemle, Board Vice-Chair
Arts Strategy Consulting
Founder/Principal
LEADERSHIP
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SUSAN RODGERSON
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Co-Founder/Director of the Paint Studio and Programming
ROB GIBBS
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Co-Founder/Special Projects Director
JASON TALBOT
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Operations Director
ANDREW MOTTA
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Director of Program Operations
LORRAINE JOHNSON
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Accounting & Finance Manager
MOSES AJOU
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Month, DD, YYYY
Creative Project Director
HAIDAN HODGSON
RICH FRANK
Marketing Director
BRENDA LEONG
Curator/Exhibitions Manager
GEORGE MALLETT
Community Network Director
LIZZY MAYER
Director of School and Workforce Partnerships
FRED PLOWRIGHT
Communications Strategist
JAMEEL RADCLIFFE
Artist/Painting Mentor
PHOEBE WARNER
Artist/Painting Mentor
GARY CHEN
Artist/Painting Mentor/Studio Manager/Recruitment Coordinator Teen
Employment
JEFF ELLSE
Artist/Painting Mentor
NATE SWAIN
Artist, Wood Shop/Facilities
KELSEY ARBONA
Design Director
ELAINE CHUNG
Graphic Designer/Mentor
JONATHAN TEJEDA (PINEAPPLE)
Assistant Mentor/Graphic Designer
MASSIEL GRULLON
Graphic Designer/Artist Mentor
JORDAN NELSON
Assistant Mentor/Graphic Designer
JOE RAMIREZ
IT/Print Production Specialist
MARY NGUYEN
Photography Studio Manager/Mentor
JANNA MACH
Assistant Photography Mentor
JOHN BREWER
Darkroom Studio Manager/Mentor
TREVOR WARD
Animator/Motion Designer/Mentor
MUSHEN KIETA
Filmmaker/Video & Event Production Mentor
STEPHEN CRONIN
Director of Creative Technology
HANNAH FALLON
3D Designer/Mentor
DOMINIQUE BUTORI
3D Designer/Mentor
DYLLAN NGUYEN
3D Designer/Mentor
RYO MATSUKI
3D Engineering and Design Mentor
LESLEY KANTLEHNER
Education Director/Afterwork Academic Support and College Readiness
SARAH ZEIBERG
Education Coordinator Massachusetts Promise Fellow
RACHEL RIZZO
Eliot Resident Artist
GWEN WALKER
Month, DD, YYYY
Co-Director of Institutional Giving
COURTNEY FORD
Month, DD, YYYY
Director of Donor and Corporate Engagement
EIR LINDSTORM-HOLMY
Month, DD, YYYY
Co-Director of Institutional Giving
LIZ ROSNER
Month, DD, YYYY
Gallery Director
OUTREACH
ARTISTS + MENTORS
ADMINISTRATION + FUNDRAISING
AFH Financial Statements
FY2017
AFH Donor
Privacy Policy
Marcella Barrière
Google,
Real Estate Project Executive
Rob Weintraub
Independent Real Estate Developer,
Restauranteur
John Slyconish
State Street
Executive Vice President & Treasurer
Claudia de Piante Vicin
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Creative Director, Development Communications
Sheila Galligan
Shelia Galligan Design
Howard Galligan
Fidelity Investments
President, Fidelity Pricing and Cash Management Service
YOUTH ARTS ENTERPRISE
AFH employs on average 325+ teens annually during critical out of school hours, with plans to double teen employment to 500+ annually by 2021. Teens work with professional artists and designers on innovative projects that promote active learning and advanced skills development in creative products, industrial design, digital media and STEM concepts. They interact directly with clients on corporate commissions, and gain business, communication, client negotiation and workforce readiness skills.
Kate Agarwal
Independent Professional