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By Anna Weggel
Homeless Youth find inspiration When Brittany Moore, 20, stepped off a bus from Louisiana last December, she didn’t know anything about Minneapolis, including where she would stay that night. Four months later, Moore has moved out of homeless shelters and has found a haven of safety and healthy expression through a Downtown organization called Kulture Klub. The group provides an artistic outlet for a subculture of the city that often goes overlooked — homeless youth. Kulture Klub is a nonprofit organization that brings homeless youth and local artists together. It helps teens express themselves creatively and provides an open and safe environment, twice a week. Moore said she uses the organization as a way to escape. “It takes your mind off things,” she said. The organization, founded in 1992 and located at 41 N. 12th Street, partners with Youthlink/Project Offstreets, a drop-in center that offers support and services designed to stabilize and help youth leave street life. While the program helps many, organizers wish they could do more. Working with youth Director Mike Hoyt said, through the program, local artists in varying fields come in to the center to lead workshops on their areas of expertise on Tuesday nights. On Thursdays, the center takes youth out to plays and performances at local theaters, films at the Walker Arts Center or independent cinemas, and artists’ studios. Hoyt said upcoming projects include working with a theater artist director and puppeteer, putting on a street theater show in the summer with a theater director and, in the fall, working with a photographer to do self-portraits. The year-round arts program focuses on youth ages 15-20 and works in the areas of media arts, literary works, performing arts, one-time workshops and residencies for eight to 10 weeks. Sometimes a core group of youth will develop and regularly attend the program, but because of precarious housing situations, attendance fluctuates. Most of the work the kids produce through the organization is for their own benefit, but if any of the artwork is sold, 100 percent of the earnings go back to the artist. “We try to have exhibits where youth artwork is for sale, but a lot of times it’s just for them — it hasn’t been profit-driven,” Hoyt said. Kulture Klub Arts Coordinator Amy Snyder said sometimes youth visit the drop-in center then never reappear again, whereas some stay in touch well into their grown lives. “We’ve had youth that are like ‘You guys gave me my first sketchbook’ or ‘I write in my journal every night now’,” she said. A healthy diversion Moore said she’s been coming to Kulture Klub for about a month, and has seen plays, written poetry and made T-shirts. Everything she creates, she keeps, and she even saves ticket stubs and programs to the performances she attends, hoping to someday frame them. Currently, Moore lives with her boyfriend, a friend and two rambunctious children, whose favorite pastime is wrestling. Although she likes being with her roommates, Kulture Klub is something “positive and fun” for her to do. “It lets me get out and see other things and not just hang out with friends,” she said. Like Moore, many of the youth that attend Kulture Klub are practicing artists themselves, whether it’s drawing in a sketchbook every day or writing poetry, and some go on to work with organizations of their interest, such as the Minnesota Spoken Word Team. Hoyt said, through the program, youth make important connections with the artists. “Sometimes the relationships they make are pretty profound,” he said. Hoyt called the program a “stepping stone” for kids on the streets that are loosely tethered to a safety net. “By assigning a space or program and allowing a time to be normalized, they find their niche so that they can grow on their own terms,” he said. Besides making connections with local artists, the club is a way to bring together homeless youth. “Some kids spend three months in the drop-in center not speaking to anyone and then, all of a sudden, they have a community, people to talk to,” he said. “It allows them to express themselves in ways they haven’t in a long time.” Looking to grow Snyder said it’s tough to be part of the organization because she cannot help youth as much as she wants to, due to limited resources. “The reality of homelessness in the city is really frustrating,” she said. Homeless youth contribute to the community, she said. “When we go out there in the world, it’s reciprocal,” she said. “We all get to learn, play, do art, grow and impact each other in positive ways.” Kulture Klub Social Services Coordinator Susan Pohl said there are not enough shelter beds, and agencies in the community are hurting from budget cuts. Pohl said through Kulture Klub, kids can find an internal resource through art to help deal with their problems. “Whatever form of expression it is, they become their own therapist. They have their own method of healing right on them, something that they can take with them,” she said. Hoyt said the organization is looking to connect with more youth, build capacity, generate more staff time and develop projects that could travel to other locations. “That’s some of the stuff we’re thinking about right now — how can we do more?” he said. The Kulture Klub relies a lot on donations. To view a wish list or more information about the organization, visit: http://www.kultureklub.org/
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