Successful art supply drive kicks off new Culture Shape initiative

Liberty University’s Department of Studio & Digital Arts (SADA) partnered with LU Serve International and collected over 6,300 art supply items for children in Guatemala during Global Focus Week (Sept. 12-16). The art supply drive was part of a new initiative, Culture Shape, focused on impacting society through art. Students dropped supplies off in boxes at various locations on campus.

In addition to the art drive, Culture Shape hosted a student art exhibition in the Jerry Falwell Library on Wednesday, Sept. 14, with photography, paintings, and other pieces focused on world culture. Two Master of Fine Arts students created their works live during the exhibition.

The Culture Shape initiative is focused on empowering artists to impact the world around them.

“In every culture, there are various ways that people express themselves,” said Todd Smith, chair of SADA. “And believers in those cultures can actually impact the culture in ways that we (outsiders) are not always able to.

“What I am thinking is, ‘How can we help cultures redeem the arts within their own culture through their own visual expressions and use those expressions to speak directly to their culture?’”

Smith wants to use the initiative to emphasize art’s cultural influence and the responsibility Liberty’s student-artists have to engage society. But the idea of Culture Shape is global in scope and sending supplies to Guatemala is just the beginning.

For this first supply drive, SADA partnered with World Help, a Lynchburg-based Christian humanitarian organization serving people across the globe. The supplies will be distributed across Guatemala with the help of Hope of Life International, an organization based in the country.

Smith wants to empower children around the world to shape their communities, beginning with creative expression.

“Think about a child in another country — and I am not saying every country is like this — who has never been able to color, or has only ever been able to draw in the sand or sculpt with mud,” Smith said. “When you put a crayon in a child’s hand, that says, ‘this is yours, you express yourself with it.’”

Smith was excited by how involved students were in the inaugural drive. In his mind, 1,000 art supply items would have been a large number. Six times that was an exciting feat.

Dr. Norman Mintle, dean of the School of Communication & Creative Arts, which includes SADA, said the generosity reflects the student culture.

“Not only do our students demonstrate their worship of our Creator through the various expressions of art, but they are also very human-focused, caring for the world through this endeavor,” Mintle said. “They are both earthly and heavenly minded. What a great depiction of how art changes the world.”