Photos of Engaging Youth Expertise (EYE For Prevention) at Lumonics
Dear Reader,
Lumonics Light & Sound Gallery and Lumonics Light Art School has powerful healing potential. When young people are given the opportunity to experience this artwork and partake in the creation of it, it can increase social emotional skills and connectivity, while preventing substance misuse. Our Youth Leadership Team, Engaging Youth Expertise – EYE For Prevention, works to authentically engage young people with lived experience in substance misuse and mental health struggles to collect and analyze data, to then come up with innovative and creative projects and solutions to create a positive impact in the Denver community. Through our data collection efforts that ranged from surveys, to our PhotoVoice Project, to focus groups, we found that art is one of the most powerful protective factors there is, and we decided to explore this as a prevention strategy.
In 2023 we launched our first ever youth-led EYE Summer Art Program, which is a 6-7 week long program aimed to create a space of belonging for young people to get to experiment with different art forms each week, and learn from renowned local artists and elders in the community. Now for two years in a row, we have started our EYE Summer Art program at Lumonics Light & Sound Gallery, due to its rich history, the sense of wonder that is invoked through experiencing the light art, and the unforgettable immersive experience. These elements cultivate the perfect atmosphere to expose youth to a new form of artwork that can help connect them to themselves and their spirituality, as well as others in the space. We are currently in the process of publishing a paper that outlines the impact of the program, and we see evidence in our quantitative and qualitative data analysis that this art program had a very positive impact on the youth participants.
Since we decided to start the program at Lumonics, this is the first time the youth meet each other as a group, so it is important to cultivate a sense of community where youth feel safe, heard, and supported in their experience. We found through our data analysis this was a key theme that arose as an essential part of the program being a success. This was also the beginning of a profound process of shifting their understanding of art to uncover a deeper understanding of self. The youth expressed through their reflections that they learned a lot from the experience, yet still have more to learn. They expressed open-mindedness about how they were able to find meaning in the act of creating artwork. There was also a shift in perspective from being focused on the results of creating artwork, to the gratitude from the actual experience; trusting the process to appreciate the outcomes even more. Some of the youth reflections from our workshop at Lumonics last year include:
“I need to be in more safe, healing spaces like this. I learned that exposing myself to artwork and to community is therapeutic and I should invest more time and energy into learning and creating art.”
“Witnessing the light art gave me visions of birth and death. I was extremely moved by the history of Lumonics and the impact this art and immersive sound and light experience had on my soul.”
Back by popular demand, we wanted to start our second annual program at Lumonics again. Our EYE For Prevention Team discussed the positive impact it had last year and decided to continue our program the same way. Here are some of the reflections from the youth participants this year:
“Art can look like things you never imagined. There’s so many possibilities. I thought that making my synesthesia into art would be near impossible, but maybe I’m wrong. What could I make using how I see the world, and how could I impact people? I can’t wait to explore that more.”
“My biggest takeaway is that everyone has a different form of art that they connect to, but each is beautiful in its own way. I felt that the light art allowed me to really think about life…”
Overall, Lumonics is a sanctuary for people of all ages and walks of life. This artwork truly is healing and should continue to live on and make a profound impact in people’s lives and in the community. EYE For Prevention, as a part of the Public Health Institute at Denver Health fully supports Lumonics and advocates for their continued support, sustainability, and funding. We want to continue to partner with Lumonics to be able to bring young people into the space and participate in powerful art activities. We are extremely grateful for our partnership with Lumonics Light & Sound Gallery and Lumonics Light Art School. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Sincerely,
Sedona Allen Moreno | Health Programs Specialist – Public Health Institute at Denver Health
Sedona.Allen@dhha.org | StrongerWithout.com | PHIDenverHealth.org | @EYEForPrevention
