Ist Annual “Art Expression in the Garden” fundraiser was held April 21

This magical event was themed around using nature and artistry to navigate the labyrinth of life. Held on 21st April at 4pm in the beautiful gardens of the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh.

This project will fund the building of gardens designed around trauma recovery initiatives for at-risk youth. The focus is to provide safe spaces for recovery, ways of connecting with others and for vocational training. These gardens will include sensory zones, plantings for education and reconnecting with nature–including where food comes from; outdoor classrooms,  active art areas, pacing pathways, and poetry reading/ yoga spaces, The first gardens will be implemented in two Juvenile Justice settings.  The goal is that these multipurpose outdoor spaces will be built in youth centers all across North Carolina.

It was opened by the Principal Ballerinas Margaret Severin-Hansen and Marcelo Martinez from Carolina Ballet, Soprano Lora Fabio accompanied by a violin trio. The event had live bands including Sonny4Miles, 16th Seed, Gina Revae, Foscoe Philharmonic, and performing artists throughout the gardens.

Justin LeBlanc from Project Runway presented a fashion show with the launch of his evening wear collection in NC and collaboration from Art2Wear original designs. by Katie Rant and Olivia Koval. NYC Fashion week models including Svea and Hayley McGrath with Sonja Simone.

Ballet dancer and model from Washington Ballet, Peyton Anderson and Holly Donnelly from Sarasota Ballet made an appearance. The Winston-Salem group, Authoring  Action, brought down the house with their spoken poetry performance that they had created just for our event.

The project is being spearheaded by  Dr. Natasha Donnelly Ph.D., RN, Sociologist and Suicide Prevention specialist who currently works for Juvenile Justice NC and supported by Ms. Anne Spafford, MLA, Professor of  Landscape Horticulture at NC State, author and design consultant. Natasha researched and developed the concept over a 5 year period with the input of multidisciplinary teams who specialize in trauma recovery support.  In Oct. 2017  Natasha approached NC State which led to Anne and her talented students from NC State University collaborating with JJ students to add to the design of these spaces and make the vision a possible reality even more spectacular than ever imagined.