Spectrum Arts NOLA

Spectrum Arts NOLA creates transformative spaces where young people use art, mindfulness, and hands-on learning to reconnect with themselves, their communities, and their futures.

We work closely with system-involved youth in New Orleans, offering programs like our Mindfulness Retreats at the Juvenile Justice Intervention Center (JJIC), where youth engage in creativity, movement, sound healing, mindful nourishment, gardening and reflective practices that support emotional regulation and self-awareness.

Through initiatives like the Garden of Forgiveness at JJIC, we are cultivating living outdoor educational spaces where youth learn to grow food, care for the earth, practice compassion and patience, and experience restoration through nature and creative expression.

The Garden of Forgiveness is a revitalized outdoor learning space where we worked alongside youth detained at JJIC to restore eight garden beds that had remained dormant for nearly a decade. Today, the garden thrives as a living classroom, one that invites students to practice forgiveness through their relationship with the earth, reconnecting with their innate capacity for love, care, and tenderness through consistent stewardship and patient observation.

Our work combines art, wellness, and real-world skill building to help young people develop confidence, process their experiences, and imagine new possibilities for their lives. With your support, we envision expanding this work beyond the facility to develop a holistic model that provides restorative experiences for justice-involved youth while extending into the community through diversion opportunities and consistent creative programming for young artists and growers, centering a continuum of support: intervention → diversion → prevention.

This approach allows us to meet young people at multiple points in their journey…sustaining those currently navigating the system while also creating pathways that help prevent system involvement before it begins.

We believe that when youth are given space to create, reflect, and grow, they begin to see themselves not as defined by their circumstances, but as powerful contributors to their communities.

View our media gallery to experience the impact of our work, from the Mindfulness Retreats and Garden of Forgiveness at JJIC to the creative opportunities we continue to cultivate with youth throughout our local community.

Your support helps us build a model where healing, creativity, and opportunity are accessible both within and beyond institutional spaces.

Testimonials

"Real talk. When I get up in the morning the first thing I do is meditate, and when I get frustrated, I take deep breaths."

"The retreats help me elevate my mind and think more positive thoughts."

“Spectrum Arts NOLA creates spaces where young people can reflect, and rediscover themselves through art,  mindfulness, and connection to the earth. They offer more than creative outlets…they offer tools for healing, confidence, and transformation. The impact of their work lives not only in what is created, but in who our young people are becoming.”