As seniors at Animas High School, we spend the majority of our core class time working on a Senior Project, which includes three parts: a thesis, a TED Talk, and an action project. For our action project, we are planning to put on an arts festival to connect the community and raise money for children in the arts. Our goal in this project is to further connect artists and community members in our town. We hope to bridge the gaps between age, art forms, and different communities of artists. Our common goal through this project is to raise money for youth access to the arts through the shared love of a variety of art forms, including music, dance, and visual arts. We will be donating our proceeds to two organizations, The Genesis Inspiration Foundation– a nonprofit organization founded in 2018 with a mission to connect youth to the transformative power of the arts- as well as a local all-volunteer organization raising funds for projects and programs whose goals provide educational and cultural benefits to the people of the greater Durango area. We will connect student artists with local and regional performing artists, along with connecting organizations and art forms in our community. This celebration will not only bring Durango citizens together, but will also provide a platform to help under-resourced youth access the arts both locally and in our nation. One hundred percent of our proceeds will be divided between the two organizations and donated.

