I sit on the Board of Directors for the nonprofit Chicago Voyagers— an org that provides adventure therapy and access to the outdoors for youth from Chicago’s most underserved communities.
According to the Center for American Progress, 74% of communities of color live in nature-deprived areas. At Chicago Voyagers, we believe the healing power of the outdoors should be available to everyone. But, for the youths we serve it’s hard to even visualize a world where the outdoors is a place for them. So we set out to change that.
In museums and history books, images of outdoor exploration share one thing in common: the subjects are almost always white men. Chicago Voyagers and Highdive collaborated with artists across Chicago to create the Future Voyagers Exhibit: 27 original works portraying actual Chicago Voyagers youth, painted in those same heroic poses of outdoor exploration.
The exhibit debuted with a three-day opening at the historic Epiphany Center for the Arts, bringing together artists, community leaders, and supporters for panels and conversations around access and representation in the outdoors.
The project raised both awareness and money (through ticket sales and the auctioning of paintings) for an organization very close to my heart. It was the most emotional project I’ve ever worked on, made even more impactful because it was created with some of my closest friends.
If you’ve read this far, please consider supporting Chicago Voyagers, HERE.
