Creating Connection

When you learn how to make art – whether it’s oil painting or playing in a rock band – you develop more than just a talent.

It can also help you learn some pretty important life lessons about things like failure and vulnerability.

Artists create for all sorts of reasons: to express emotion, convey an idea, or raise a political ruckus.

For people who struggle with anxiety and depression, art can also be a kind of therapy.

Creating Connection Michigan is a series of intimate, first-person stories about the power of art to change lives. This week, we hear from a Kalamazoo woman whose art-making helped her cope with tragic losses.

Stateside is featuring intimate, first-person stories about the power of art in a new series called Creating Connection Michigan.

Today, we hear from Penny, a camper at Girls Rock Detroit. It’s a program where girls ages 8 to 15 form a band, learn how to play an instrument, write a song, and perform it in front of a live audience – all in the course of a week. 

Stateside is featuring intimate, first-person stories about the power of art in a new series called Creating Connection Michigan. Over the next five Tuesdays, you'll hear from Michiganders across the state about how local art programs have changed their lives.

We begin the series with Otis Cornelius, a student at Fired Up, a Benton Harbor glassworking program, and Lynne Clayton, the executive director at Water Street Glassworks.