When We Shine Foundation
“For there is always light if only we are brave enough to see it. If only we are brave enough to be it.” Amanda Gorman, National Youth Poet Laureate.
When We Shine Foundation is a fully accredited 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. We strengthen and enrich communities through the Arts, through arts education, arts integration and our social artistry network partners.
#ShareTheLight Instagram Music Video Challenge
Letʻs Light Up Instagram! Make your own #ShareTheLight Instagram Story using our song, #ShareTheLight!
#ShareTheLight is the product of a project designed to enable us to feel more connected with each other, our movement – the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) and our collective power to change the world.
Share the Light (Sing-Along Choir with Lyrics)
This Is How We Shine!
Arts Integration
We develop creative arts education programs and projects for children. Arts integration taught in our schools, bestows the powers of creative problem solving, increased self-confidence and self-understanding, enhanced communication skills and improved cognition. It is a research-based approach to teaching and learning that has proven results for the past 30 years.
When WE Shine Foundation also provides funding and micro-grants for artists in residence and for professional development for teachers who want to incorporate value-based learning through the arts, to bring arts integration to their school.
Creative Placemaking
The National Endowment for the Arts describes creative-placemaking like this: “…projects in which arts and culture play an intentional and integrated role in place-based planning and development that is human-centric, comprehensive, and locally informed.”
Done well, creative place-making can animate unused public and private spaces and resources, rejuvenate structures and streetscapes, improve local business viability and public safety, and it can bring diverse people together to celebrate, to inspire others, and to be inspired.
Social Artistry
What is Social Artistry? It is Arts Activism that influences changes to better our communities and social systems at large. It is art that educates, that invites awareness of an issue and connects people to one another so they can face the problems together. Social Artists can become agents for peace and for environmental well-being. They are the cultural creatives and social solutionaries for political and planetary change, that utilize their artistic skills through a galvanizing song, or an artistic public mural and create community awareness through engaging participatory, ongoing projects. It is an emerging field that has changed lives and societies worldwide and yielded remarkable results in solving problems. Check out ArtPlace America for some extraordinary examples!
Social Artistry utilizes the art of enhancing human capacities in the light of social complexity. The social artist seeks to bring new ways of thinking, being and doing to social challenges in the world.
Community Building
We work with various Artists and organizations in collaborative support, by networking, attending meetings, educating ourselves of their mission and how it is implemented. We then can identify the ways in which we can assist or add value to their goals and vision.
This is a journey in itself and this is what true social artistry looks like, building relationships from the ground up. There are so many kind-hearted and essential organizations here on Maui and around the world that make our communities unique and help to create a culture of kindness for all of our global residents.
ARTISTS are AWESOME!
“Artists are the gate keepers of truth. We are civilization’s radical voice.”
– Artist & Social Activist, Paul Robeson
Everyone can be an Artist and the Arts – whether musical, visual, digital or performing – play an important role in Movements for social change. They serve as a conduit to shift narratives and become records of our social movements.
We commend and recognize Artists for their audacity to dream, commitment to help create dynamic social justice, and dedication to helping make the world a better place …especially for women and girls!