Summer 2022 Creative Placemaking Internship

Creative Placemaking & Mural Internship In the summer of 2022 MY TURN and Kimball Jenkins collaboratively welcomed 15 teens to the Kimball Jenkins campus to design and implement a creative placemaking project that resulted in a public mural in Concord, NH. The 20-hour per week program ran for 7 weeks from June - August 2023 and was designed to empower teens with the agency that their skills, knowledge, and voice can make an impact in their community.

The interns engaged in a curriculum that gave hands-on experience in project management, community development, budgeting, event management, and the creation of a public artwork. The main facilitator was Kimball Jenkins’ Programming Director, Yasamin Safarzadeh. Richard Haynes and facilitator Kristen Butterfield led the teens in a to review the history of arts based social justice, and learn to create imagery reflective of the group’s own experience.

The teens invited for this program were selected by both Kimball Jenkins and MY TURN, a 501c3 focused on, "The forgotten half, the economically, socially and educationally disadvantaged youth in poorer neighborhoods and communities. MY TURN serves nearly 800 youth annually in 6 gateway cities with high rates of new immigrants, poverty, dropouts, and unemployment.

The program started with 15 teens and ended with 12. The youth were from Franklin, Concord, and Manchester, and they were paid $15.00 per hour at 20 hours per week for their involvement in the program.

Media from Internship Program: Concord Monitor Union Leader Manchester Ink Link, second article Concord TV

The following individuals and organizations partnered with us to meet with the interns about their own businesses and fields as they relate to placemaking and the creative economy:

Kristen Butterfield Equity Facilitator

Zach Palmer Community Loan Fund

Victoria Carrington Stay Work Play NH

Journee LaFond, MSW

Christina D’Allesandro NH Charitable Foundation

Kate Sullivan White Birch Communications

Amber Nicole Cannan UnchARTed Tutoring

Oscar Villacas First Gen Multimedia

Saad Hindal Artist

Gary Samson New Hampshire Society of Photographic Artists

Miriam Kovacs Broken Spoon

Steve Duprey The Duprey Companies

Ryan Hvizda Hvizda Realty

Carolos Baia City of Concord

Emmett Soldati Teatotaller

Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire Tour of Portsmouth heritage sites

Catherine Corkery NH Sierra Club

Jasmine Torres New Hampshire Public Radio