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How To Draw A Lion – Art from the Happy Family Children’s Village
December 7, 2017 @ 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
SMFA Tufts Alumni transform lives in Tanzania together
Two alumni from Tufts-founded programs in East Africa, who met unexpectedly in Tanzania, have now partnered to host a special evening at Tufts Art Gallery on behalf of the children of Nkoaranga.
Tufts Art Gallery, Slater Concourse 40 Talbot Ave, Medford MA 02155 – December 7th 6PM-8PM – Tufts Gallery will present a vibrant evening of art and education, sponsored by two organizations that operate within East Africa. How to Draw a Lion — founded by Tufts Alum John Platt — is an art education program for at-risk and orphaned children in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Small Things, or TST (www.thesmallthing.org)– founded by Tufts alum Bekka Ross Russell — is a nonprofit organization that supports over 150 children and families in Tanzania.
The event begins with a silent art auction that features paintings by the talented kids aged 3-12 from Nkoaranga as well as jewelry designed and handcrafted by local students.
Admission is free and 100% of the sales and donations from artwork go toward the education of the young artists highlighted in this gallery.
The exhibit displays the creativity, resilience, and spirit of the vulnerable and orphaned children in the Meru District of Tanzania and is part of a wider series of gallery shows and installations organized by How to Draw a Lion, an ongoing initiative that provides art classes for children in poverty, raises money for their education through shows, and works to generate awareness about the gains and challenges that orphaned and vulnerable children in the developing world face.
The Small Things (TST) believes that poverty is never an acceptable reason for a child to be in an orphanage and works together, with the community, to help strengthen at risk families so that children can stay together with their parents or relatives. TST aims to create alternatives to traditional residential care for vulnerable children by keeping families together, empowering caregivers and communities and serving as an advocate for transition to a family-first model with options for residential care when family reunification is impossible.
