Other Outreach Programs & Events

Upon request of the NYC Department of Correction (DOC), SI developed and implemented our first weekly Art Academy for Youth on Rikers Island ages 18-21 in 2017. Since then, the program has expanded to include older adults as well as youth, and is now being annually offered twice-a-week.

The Academy provides a year-round high-quality art program to participants. We have created weekly projects that any new participant can feel comfortable engaging in and completing. They are taught to work with approved materials to voice their own stories-often unseen and unheard-through the making of art in various forms.

Participants work on developing critical thinking skills, including visual communication and decision-making; increased knowledge and understanding of the importance of following directions, improving listening skills, and communicating feelings through art. This program provides equitable art education opportunities that enables participants to learn how to reflect, create, express, and develop empathy for themselves and others.

In furtherance of our more than century-old mission, SI has participated in many community outreach events offsite. Below is a sample list of those activities.   

• Since 1992, SI has donated hundreds of children’s books to nonprofits yearly.
• The Art of Healing Festival hosted by The Thrive Collective is an annual event dedicated to healing gun violence trauma through the creative arts.
• Party on Park sponsored by The New Harlem East Merchants Association, which puts advocacy into action through collaborative programming with businesses, residents, and neighborhood organizations across East Harlem.
• The FIT Diversity Comic Con, which is an annual celebration of multiculturalism and acceptance of all colors, creeds, and genders in the sequential arts.
• Summer Streets, an annual event sponsored by the Mayor’s Office in celebration of New York City’s most valuable public spaces—our streets.
• Pet Portrait Fundraiser, an annual outdoor drawing event where illustrators and comic artists volunteer to create pet portraits to raise donations for the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals. The Alliance’s mission is to transform NYC into a community where no dogs or cats of reasonable health and temperament will be killed merely because they do not have homes. At these events, SI conducts free art workshops and provides participants with free art supplies/books.