Creativity & Community Service
Post written by Julia Suriano
My name is Julia, I am a rising senior at Bryn Mawr, and I have been spending my summer completing my community service with Social Studio. One of the ways we reach out to the Baltimore community is through creating craft packs made with donated materials that are then distributed to children in the community, or sent to organizations in the city. This summer I am leading the craft pack production with help from the summer interns.
To design a craft pack we use the creative process. First, we EXPLORE. We look through donations to see what we have in bulk that could make fun craft materials. Next we ENGAGE. Once we select the materials we want to use, we have to decide what the craft will be. Then we EXPRESS. After we brainstorm our ideas, I make a prototype. During the EXPAND phase I created a how-to video that is posted on our YouTube channel @socialstudiobaltimore. Producing the video is its own little creative process and involves gathering all the materials, filming myself making the craft, then editing the video. We work together like an assembly line to build the craft packs for the EXCHANGE phase. The amount of packs we make depends on how many supplies we have. This can range from 12 packs to 100 packs. The finishing touch is writing up a direction sheet, printing it out, and sliding it into the pack. The creative process is complete with the EMPOWER phase. This phase is when we use our art and ideas to grow, teach, connect, influence, reach out, actualize, and aspire. For the craft pack distribution, I reach out to community organizations who are interested in sharing them with their constituents.
The most recent craft pack that was designed is Watercolor Peacock Fan. The whole process of creating these packs from start to finish took place over 3 days. We donated these craft packs to the Baltimore Hunger Project. I dropped them off to their office for them to be distributed with their weekly food bags to children in the Baltimore community.
For more information about Baltimore Hunger Project, go to their website: https://www.baltimorehungerproject.org/
Resources:
TRY THIS: Make a “Watercolor Peacock Fan”
