Open to ALL artists and creative youth 25 and under – send us your artwork and/or your written ‘grief prompts’ – a short, text based description of a memorial process or action that can give the bereaved something to *do* while they move through the stages of grief. (Arts educators, we encourage you to submit work on behalf of your students as well!)
https://www.artistsliteracies.org/youthdeck
The first edition of the Artists’ Grief Deck (griefdeck.com) was an artist-generated response to the pandemic – a ‘flashcard’ style toolkit to support communal grieving, developed by the Artists’ Literacies Institute and artist Adriene Jenik, in partnership with a coalition of artists, the NYC Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, and the National Hospice Cooperative. With this project, artists emerged as second responders to the still-unfolding disaster of the pandemic and its aftereffects – and since its release in the Fall of 2020, it is now in service to organizations, individuals, and communities in 47 states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, as well as 14 countries on 4 continents.
Now we’re making a second edition, meant to serve youth and children, who will be carrying a burden of unprocessed grief into the indefinite future as a result of losing not just family, friends, or community members, but also special occasions and the ‘presumptive normal’. By bringing artists with experience in memory, loss, ritual, tradition, healing, and communal care together with professionals in grief and bereavement, the Youth Grief Deck will provide a much-needed tool to the teachers, counselors, and youth who will be processing this loss for the months, and years to come. Now we are partnered with Experience Camps as well, ensuring resident expertise while we combine YOUR artwork and writing into an open toolset for processing loss.
Artists selected for the printed edition of the deck will receive a cash honoraria! And ALL artists will be eligible for inclusion on griefdeck.com, where we maintain a free-to-access repository of art-based grief support resources.
