Young artists leading the way at Fall River nonprofit

By Jonathan Comey

When Sara Martins arrives as a transfer student to UMass Dartmouth’s Visual Arts program, she’ll bring a unique perspective with her.

While other 20-year-olds might have spent the summer on the beach or scooping ice cream, she has spent it as the program director of YEAH!, a Fall River nonprofit that hires teen artists to do commercial art projects for the city and local businesses.

“I really love spreading the word about this program, especially to students who want to become part of it.” she said. “You get paid to do art, and that’s a simple thing, but it really means a lot. I think the younger students are kind of like ‘Wait, you get paid? To do art? Seriously?’ and it’s nice to say ‘Yes. Yes, we get paid.’ As long as you put that work and dedication to it, you deserve to get paid.”

Like many other businesses and organizations, COVID wreaked havoc on YEAH! in terms of staffing, funding and participation, but Sara and board chair Susan Wolfson refused to let it fade away. While YEAH! (Youth Experiencing Artistic Hope) has a board of directors that make the big decisions, and a couple of veteran educators helping guide the way, Sarah is the captain of this colorful ship. She and 19-year-old Janessa De Oliveira are “mentors” by title, earned by their actions in the program since entering as students.

“We try to just pass on what we’ve learned to the other students,” Janessa said. “We’re not bosses really, it’s not like that, but we want to help get things done the right way.” They both have a poise and professionalism you might expect from college grads well into the working world, but in fact both are in new college situations this fall. While Sara tries to find her place at UMass, Janessa will be starting her academic journey at Bristol Community College. Some of that polish is self directed, some was gained through their time working for YEAH! “We want people to know – we’re legit,”

Sara said. “You can come to us, and you can hire us, and we’re going to be professional. And you’re going to be proud to have supported us when you see the work we put in and the final product.”

Commissioned projects in progress or recently completed for Liberty Utilities, BayCoast Bank, and Forever Paws Animal Shelter are added to their growing portfolio.

The program was started in 2017 and has been building momentum brushstroke by brushstroke. The idea is simple – don’t just invite kids to spend a summer making art and building relationships, hire them, treat them as creative partners, build their skills and demand professionalism.

On any given day there are 20+ young artists working in the downtown offices of YEAH!, clustered in air-conditioned rooms, laptops open to works in progress, surrounded by art supplies and reminders of their works on the walls.

There are also a stack of pay invoices on a table in the hallway, a reminder that this is not a summer camp but an actual job for these kids. MassHire supports job-readiness and skill-building through subsidizing the young artists’ wages, but teens have creative problems to solve, deadlines to meet, and clients to satisfy to earn that paycheck.

Working with MassHire, and riding the momentum of the new arts renaissance in Fall River, YEAH! places its commissioned works with local businesses to make the city a more visually interesting place.

“Sometimes, especially during the summer, with a lot of different projects, and people, there’s a lot to organize and it can be a little overwhelming – definitely a learning experience,” Sara said. “It’s a fun challenge though,” added Janessa. “We go into a big project knowing it will be difficult, but that’s part of what makes it exciting.”

While leadership came fairly quickly to Sara, it wasn’t as smooth for Janessa. She joined the program for the 2020 season, which obviously came with a major Covid complication. “I’ve always been an artist, and in my junior year at Durfee my visual design teacher said ‘Hey, there’s this program offering art jobs, and i said ‘Ooh, art job? This is interesting! I want an art job!’”

But breaking into a new group without the ability to meet in person was awkward, and even when the work shifted from Zoom to IRL, she wasn’t quite ready to meet the standards of professionalism that YEAH! expects of its youth staff.

“When I started, not only did I not show up on time, but I never got things done,” she said. “Couldn’t work quickly enough. It was something different all the time, whatever was going on with me in my own head, and I guess maybe I was just too young to really do what I had to do. The great thing is they stuck with me, they mentored me – and they were tough with me. They said ‘We like you in this program, but if you keep acting this way, we can’t keep you.’ And that made all the difference. I grew out of that through this program.”

Janessa has worked, learned and grown, and now she’s holding a new group of young artists – just a year or two younger than her – to the high standards she raised up to meet. For Sara, the experience has been equally invaluable – and she has high hopes for YEAH! to expand its reach and mission.

“The way I look at it is that this is a healthy, supporting outlet for a community that needs it. For a lot of these kids it’s a second home, a place to thrive.

“You’re bonding with people you can relate to. Maybe you were that outcast at school, or just the quiet kid that does their own thing. But here, we talk to each other, we make friendships, we form bonds. Every artist can get sucked into their own little world, so here it’s about pushing those boundaries – we want a community, where you have to work with others, and I think eventually you want to work with others.

“And in the end, we’re able to get out into the community and bring art to the people. “I mean, who doesn’t want to make their city beautiful?”