Past Projects

Urban Art Movement (UAM) aka Creative House

UAM was an After School Matters program created by Pilsen based artist and educator, Luis Raul, as a part of his Youth Empowerment Arts (YEA) project, which has now evolved into Creative House. For the 2014-2015 school year, YEA is partnering with Consensus and the Back of the Yards Chicago Public Library to host 30 Back of the Yards youth. UAM helps teens evolve and connect with their creativity through an introduction to ceramic sculptures, portrait paintings, figure composition, and street art stenciling. The program also promotes urban beautification, introduces teens to contemporary youth issues, and teaches lessons in conflict resolution. Youth are prepped to create an exhibition-worthy body of work for their personal portfolio to present to universities and employers and gives them an array of skills to do large-scale projects. Currently, Consensus supports Luis remotely through materials & design as needed while he gears up to launch a Creative House hub in Little Village. 

 

Adler CSP

As of the 2015 Spring semester, we are teaming up with our neighbor, Christopher School, to support art programming for special needs students on campus. Thanks to an exciting partnership with Adler University's Community Service Practicum (CSP), our Masters of Art Therapy interns, Cara Fisher and Gina Crovetti are helping Christopher School's Art Teachers incorporate new methods of engaging students with disabilities.

 

YMCA Community Schools Initiative

We partnered with YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago to offer three after-school programs for Spring 2015 at Libby Elementary (Digital Media Arts, Creative Writing) and Christopher School (Songwriting).

 

Gage Park Community Resource Fair & Mini Conference

Gage Park High School’s Parent Advisory Council (PAC) invited us to help them produce the first annual community outreach event at the school on March 8-9, 2014. We did a full interdisciplinary arts install in the high school’s auditorium, complete with sculptures, paintings, projection mapping, and a custom sound system. We facilitated panel discussions and speeches from community leaders along with music, poetry, and dance performances from local youth.

​

Graffic Traffic

Thanks to a modest grant from Burners Without Borders, we are in the process of recruiting and launching a summer program for youth who have been disciplined for tagging/vandalism. Legendary graffiti artist Trixter will teach Graffic Traffic through a combination of visits to local establishments, workshops at Consensus, and a public mural painting. The goal is to teach youth how to use street art to build respect and positive attitudes in their community.

​

K Love’s 8th Period

Co-founder of LYRIC Mentoring, a south side organization that uses spoken word poetry and hip-hop for youth violence prevention programs, K Love The Poet asked us to host an event debuting her new work, 8th Period, on February 8, 2014. Attracting a 150-person audience, her program showcased youth talent and mentoring methods. Click Here to See Video Clip.

​

Mora Open Mic

In early 2015, we piloted a new youth open mic called Mora for youth to perform ANY medium--music, poetry, dance, theatre, comedy, circus-- anything creative. The community showed some interest, but we decided to take a step back and focus on linking our after-school programs with the existing open mics hosted by our partners, LYRIC and IMAN. Stay tuned for how this develops... Fun Fact: In English, "mora" is a linguistic unit that determines syllable weight. In spanish, "mora" means "blackberry" or "reside/dwell". So the operating idea is that the fruit of our creativity resides in the weight of our syllables, in the sound of our beat.

​

Back of the Yards Día de los Muertos Walk

On November 2, 2013, Consensus participated in the annual Day of the Dead Walk hosted by Holy Cross Parish at 46th and Wood by donating art to be auctioned in support of the church's domestic violence programs. The mixed media piece by our Art Director, Nicholas Gunty, was among the highest bid, and it now hangs in the parish office.