Juxtaposition Arts

612-588-1148; juxtapositionarts.org

DeAnna Cummings is executive director and co-founder of Juxtaposition Arts, a youth education program, teen-staffed design firm and art center in north Minneapolis. Teens who have completed the visual-arts literacy program can apply for paid jobs with Juxtaposition in graphic design, contemporary arts, environmental design and screen printing.

Q: Why is your work important?

A: Juxtaposition Arts seeks to awaken youth's self-value so they can think and act based on their individual and collective strengths. We make the discipline and joy of artistic practice relevant to the lives of the youth, artists, and communities we serve. Youth who are involved in the arts do better in school and life, and communities with a high arts presence are more vibrant, livable, stable communities.

Q: What is your biggest accomplishment?

A: Launching the JXTALab Teen-Staff Design Program in 2010. We've employed about 130 youths, going into fourth year, and we have 42 clients. We create logos, brochures, posters, fliers, T-shirts, pocket parks, public sculptures, murals. Before 2010, you could take a drawing class, a painting workshop or participate in a workshop on customizing sneakers, but we didn't have a formal pathway for young folks to use those education experiences to shape future careers in art and design or entrepreneurship. Our goal is for a triple bottom-line impact: it helps young people's development, brings in revenue for our organization and makes an impact on the community.

Q: What is the biggest challenge you've faced?

A: Growing into a long-lived community art institution. We've shifted our programming from an after-school enrichment model to an employment-and-training business model. The other big challenge is sharing with the community and clients the depth and breadth of what we do, the services we provide. A lot of people haven't caught up to the fact that we're a business that employs teens in art and design services, and that we're a gallery and a center with studio spaces for artists.

Q: How can people get involved?

A: Sign up and get on our e-mail list. Folks can do that on our website. "Like" our Facebook page, follow us on Instagram. Attend a campus tour. We have campus tours every last Wednesday of the month from 5:30 to 6:30. Hire us for your design needs. Individuals or small businesses can hire us to refresh logos or create logos from scratch, design T-shirts, hire us to do a workshop. Enroll your kids. Our programs are free for young people; we earn revenue from client jobs.

We're primarily supported through corporations, foundations, government and individual contributions. Our client-based work covers maybe 20 percent of the cost to employ young people and run the labs. Our goal is to get that up to 50, but we still need significant support from individuals and other philanthropic sources. □