R.I.S.E Arts Center of Baltimore, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide a multidisciplinary arts education to youth in underserved communities and neurodivergent youth and young adults, has received $150,000 from Baltimore City & Youth Fund. Founder and Executive Director, Kammeran Tyree Giggers, says R.I.S.E stands for Reach your dreams, Inspire creativity, Stay focused, and Evolve to step into your purpose. “The name R.I.S.E came to me in a dream. I did not know that it would be the name of the organization until I had a dream about it, and I woke up right after that dream in the middle of the night and put it in my notes.”
Since its founding four years ago, R.I.S.E has served over 190 children in Baltimore City. Giggers highlights the success of their Emerging Artist program, which provides youth ages 13 to 24 with fine arts education, financial literacy skills, job searching, and support for creating art-based businesses. The grant from BCYF’s Grassroots Fund has had a direct and significant impact on R.I.S.E allowing the organization to grow from a one-person operation with Griggers leading all of the programs with the help of volunteers to a team-led organization with a permanent staff of six, including behavioral therapists, social workers, and teaching artists. R.I.S.E was also able to secure their own space at the historic Eubie Blake Center thanks to their Grassroots Fund award.
R.I.S.E addresses the lack of arts education for Baltimore City’s youth, especially those with special needs. Originally pursuing a career in acting, Giggers found her passion for education while working as a performing arts teacher and director at the Harbor School for kids with special needs in Baltimore. Witnessing the power the arts had on these students, she founded R.I.S.E to bridge the gap between the arts and Baltimore City Public Schools. “I’ve always loved arts education but working with kids with special needs pulled at my heartstrings. They were often underestimated, especially when it came to their academics in the classroom. [Yet there] was just something that the arts did for them that no other subject could. The arts helped them to thrive.”
R.I.S.E’s arts approach includes African dance, hip-hop dance, fine arts, digital art, acting, and improv. Giggers is excited about potential future additions, such as comic book storytelling and development, based on the feedback and interests of the young people she serves.
Giggers emphasized the importance of not forgetting the special needs community, stating, “The special needs community is often forgotten, especially when it comes to funding. R.I.S.E is doing the work, and we need continued support to make a lasting impact.” In discussing R.I.S.E’s future goals, she expressed a desire for increased inclusivity, especially for neuro-divergent youth, urging others to be more mindful and gentler in their approach to their specific challenges. Giggers points to testimonial evidence shared through stories about youth at R.I.S.E She points to one in particular about a child on the spectrum who was nonverbal at the start of their summer camp program and who, by week three, was up on stage using a microphone to passionately belt out words to a song. For Giggers, this example is just one of many miraculous stories of the transformative power of the arts on children and youth.
BCYF President Alysia Lee says the stories of each, and every one of its 101 grantees should be told often and widely because all of these organizations are diligently and systematically transforming the lives of children and youth across the City. She applauds R.I.S.E for the work they are doing to not only provide youth with arts education but also to spark their interest in careers in the arts.”
“This is exactly what the community wants BCYF grantee organizations to do across the City,” Lee says. “We want them to create curiosity in the minds of children and youth that leads those young people to a brand-new world where exciting new opportunities lie. The arts have tremendous power for healing and inspiration for children and youth, especially neurodivergent and underserved youth. We are ecstatic that these grantee funds will continue to provide additional opportunities for these young people to explore themselves through a kaleidoscope of artistic experiences that lead to careers in the arts.”
According to Lee, those opportunities will only grow with time. Over the last three years, 101 grantee organizations have received 23 million dollars from BCYF, and 12 grantees will each receive $250,000 in Grassroots Funds to be paid over the next five years totaling 3 million dollars. BCYF will have awarded more than $60 million by the year 2028 in Grassroots Funds alone to those grantee organizations.
“As we congratulate R.I.S.E for all of their incredible work impacting youth through arts and education, we invite everyone to continue to join us on this quest to realize the City of our dreams, where the collective impact of the investment in our young people results in a more equitable, safe, and flourishing Baltimore for all.”
To apply for the 2024 Grassroots Fund, go to bcyfund.org.
About R.I.S.E Arts Center of Baltimore
R.I.S.E’s mission is to provide a multidisciplinary arts education to youth in underserved communities and neurodivergent youth and young adults. Their goal is to create an environment for youth to learn and develop skills in performing arts, visual arts, and creative writing. For more information visit riseartscenter.org
About BCYF
The Baltimore Children & Youth Fund (BCYF) is a public charity stewarding public dollars to build partnerships that support the ecosystem focused on building opportunities for Baltimore youth. The organization amplifies Black and Brown-led youth-centered programs in Baltimore City while providing capacity building, resources, and funding.
BCYF envisions a more just, creative, and abundant Baltimore where all young people live, thrive, and lead. We imagine an ecosystem of sustainable youth programs with full agency, liberated from the harm of structural racism and inequity and able to thrive in abundance. Since 2020, Baltimore Children & Youth Fund has awarded $23M dollars to primarily youth-serving organizations thanks to generous donations and the tax dollars of Baltimore City residents.
The effort to create a dedicated fund to support programs for Baltimore’s young people was launched in 2015 by then-City Council President Bernard “Jack” C. Young. The fund was a response to the unrest in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody, an event that sharply illuminated longstanding inequities in public funding in Black communities. BCYF is guided by one central value, Ubuntu (n.) I am because of who we all are. Ubuntu is the southern African philosophy that describes the interconnectedness of all people. It emphasizes the idea that an individual’s well-being is intricately tied to the well-being of the community. The philosophy promotes humanity, service, sharing, healing, and reconciliation.
