This is the sixth in a nine-part series spotlighting the Chatham County Arts Council’s Grassroots Grant recipients for 2014. The Grassroots Grant Program allows the Chatham County Arts Council to work with our own community members to determine where artists and arts funding can make the greatest impact locally.
Check out what inspiring work the Chatham County Arts Council is making possible through our Grassroots Grants Program: connecting survivors of sexual assault with the healing power of the arts. The Family Violence and Rape Crisis Services (FVRC), a grant recipient this year, will use its grant dollars to pay local artists to lead arts sessions with sexual assault survivors. The process of creating art for survivors is a vastly important part of their healing journeys and serves as an empowering tool for rediscovering their voices.
If you don’t know about Family Violence and Rape Crisis Services, here’s the scoop: FVRC is a comprehensive rural program that works to stop domestic violence and sexual assault through a three-pronged approach: intervention, advocacy, and prevention. This holistic approach increases client safety, long-term health, and well-being while building a safer, healthier community. Additionally, there are support groups, a shelter, long-term individual and family counseling, children’s programs, parenting education, and services to batterers.
We sat down with S.A.D.I. (Sexual Assault Demonstration Initiative) Project Coordinator and artist Elizabeth Nieves to pick her brain about FVRC, the arts, and life in Chatham County. Here’s what she had to say about…
…how art is an important piece of FVRC’s work: “Art is so important because it is a tool of universal healing that allows survivors to find creative outlets for expressing themselves.”
…if a genie in a bottle could grant one wish for FVRC: “The community would recognize how valuable the services are that we provide and that as an organization we can only go so far without their (community) support.”
…what opportunities are there for community members to become involved with FVRC: “Volunteers can help with food, clothing and monetary donations, they can help in the office, with transportation, as well as attend and support community events that raise awareness.”
Check out the FVRC website to learn more about this important Chatham County organization.
The Grassroots Arts Program is offered by Chatham County Arts Council through the generous assistance of the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowment of the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.
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