Harris County Department of Education’s (HCDE) Civic Engagement team recently used paint and a blank canvas to help Harris County youth better understand that advocacy comes in many forms and fashion.

Art and advocacy.

“While it’s tough to discuss things like voting – some of them won’t be doing that for another decade – there are absolutely ways for them to learn to express themselves and their opinions long before that,” said Avery Spranger, HCDE Civic Engagement Coordinator, who spearheaded the June 23 Civic Art Immersion Tour. The tour included a new local art studio and stops to see civic art murals across Houston.

Students from the Center for Afterschool, Summer and Enrichment (CASE) for Kids Texas ACE Cycle 11 grant campuses participated in the event. Each group started at Sanman Studios’ downtown art gallery. There, the students explored the space, checking out local artist Robert Leroy Hodge’s exhibit, “Diamonds That Falls from the Treetop,” in the gallery and looking through numerous books in the reading room.

One group then boarded a bus provided by Precinct One and visited murals in Third Ward, while the other worked on an art project. At the SHAPE Community Center, there were murals depicting racial injustice and the importance of the census.

Back at Sanman, students created collage art pieces, cutting out pictures and words from magazines before piecing everything together.

“A lot of the students expressed how powerful it was and that this was the first time they really interacted with art, books and other pieces – specifically about Black culture,” Spranger said. “For a lot of their sites, they don’t have libraries or art programs, so it really opened up their eyes to a new world of possibilities as a writer or artist.”