We have involved all aspects of the community in producing the artworks and services we offer, and in return we have attracted attention from local arts organizations, businesses, the Mayor's Office, CACHH, the Texas Commission on the Arts, and many individual supporters.

Since Adams began working in public art in 1996, he has produced or collaborated on over a dozen public artworks across Houston. The first of the projects included murals for the COMMUNITY ARTISTS COLLECTIVE and a sculpture for the BEDIKO'S INFORMAL MULTI-CULTURAL MUSEUM (1996). Working with local arts non-profit organizations in the 3rd Ward has given us the experience of identifying the needs of the community culturally and creatively without replicating services already available. Our innovative mural projects, which involve young artists, serve as excellent educational tools to teach teenagers and young adults the value of the world, their community, their homes, and themselves constructively. The participants are exposed to techniques, skills, and opportunities such as grantwriting, design/development of tile mosaic murals, general art funding strategies, and entrepreneurship training.

ArtworkZ mixes art with youth energy, community support, educational initiatives, and economic empowerment strategies to improve the quality of lives for the residents in our communities. Last year Adams supervised Strong Children, Strong World, a public art mural for the MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS' collaboration with HOUSTON PARKS AND RECREATION at MOODY PARK (1998). The project included the assistance of over thirty children and teenagers, parents, and park employees involved in summer programming at MOODY PARK. The input and involvement of the community is an absolute need for the general acceptance, approval, and overall success of new public artworks like this mural. The evolution of evolving artists, community residents, businesses, arts organizations, and the City of Houston is an innovative approach to enhancing the cultural education of our audiences.

The past three public art projects completed this year were in collaboration with artist and co-founder of ArtworkZ, RHONDA ADAMS. Her involvement in the development and implementation of our projects has been an integral component to the success of the murals as well as our other programs, including ART ANGELS, a program dedicated to offering art therapy sessions and activities to support groups with limited exposure to art and professional artists.

The ART ANGELS Creative Therapy sessions cover a variety of art-making techniques, including: drawing, painting, tile mosaics, mask-making, and sculpture. PROJECT ROW HOUSES, an art organization in the 3rd Ward, commissioned us to produce an artists' project for their 10th Round of Artists' Installations. Our installation encompassed artists working with patients, students, clients, and members of support groups from the TEXAS CHILDREN's CANCER CENTER, HOUSTON AREA WOMEN'S CENTER, AGAPE MENTAL HOUSING, and WRITERS IN THE SCHOOLS. We worked with the groups to paint individual artworks, which were placed together to create murals. These murals -- along with photographs, poems, writings, and information about the participating organizations -- are displayed in the ART ANGELS House installation.

As artists, we are aware of the positive impact that unlocking an individual's creative potential can have on personal development. The ART ANGELS program is a way for artists to share with others the mental, physical, and spiritually-healing aspects we have discovered through the creation of our own work. We have found that creative activity is particularly effective in working with adults suffering from mental illness, people who are anxious, depressed, emotionally blocked, or socially inhibited and, especially, young people prone to the destruction of themselves or others.

ArtworkZ persists in providing cutting edge art projects to heighten the communities awareness of multicultural diversity by orchestrating city-wide public art projects. The HOUSTON AREA MURAL PROJECT is a local program produced by ArtworkZ to revitalize and showcase some of Houston's civic organizations, schools, businesses, and artists. So far, we have received two major grants including the CREATIVE ARTIST PROJECT AWARD and the MAYOR'S INITIATIVE MINI-GRANT, and these funds will support the costs of three murals for the 3rd Ward and a mural for the 4th Ward at Gregory Lincoln Academy. Together we have raised over $15,000 for these two community mural projects, allowing ArtworkZ to employ eight youth artists to assist in the production of these murals over the 1999 summer period. The murals will be produced through community partnerships with the CITY OF HOUSTON and local cultural arts organizations including: PROJECT ROW HOUSES, SHAPE COMMUNITY CENTER, the COMMUNITY ARTISTS' COLLECTIVE, GREGORY LINCOLN ACADEMY, DAL-TILE CORPORATION -- our official tile sponsor, KCOH Radio Station, BOBBIT GLASS, and many individual supporters who are playing an instrumental role in the success of our programs.