Freedom Arts and Education Center

Freedom Arts & Education Center creates artistic, academic, and advancement opportunities to feed, heal, and teach the youth of St. Louis. By removing systemic barriers and building resourced spaces, Black and Brown youth realize their own power to become highly creative, literate, passionate, independent thinkers. Since 2012, we have supported youth through accessible community arts programs, decolonized educational resources, enriching multidiscipline summer programs, in-school advocacy, and job opportunities.

FAEC operates programs in the out-of-school hours that nurture our youth in the areas of the arts, academics, and social-emotional growth. We work with our youth on weekdays after school, on the weekends, and throughout the summer months by providing tutoring, arts education and learning, performance opportunities, mentoring and apprenticeships, and community organizing. We also provide advocacy and support for our youth in their schools during the school day. 

Our values begin with our foundation and tradition of faith. We believe we are all united and empowered by one Creator, and called to live in freedom to serve one another and stride towards justice. Our programs are all youth centered, and shaped by our values of the arts, academics, advancement, access, advocacy, and anti-racism. 

ARTS: We value the arts and creativity as crucial elements of an equitable community. We passionately create and consume art that is culturally relevant, challenging to the status quo, and uplifting to the marginalized. We leverage the arts to empower each other to build sustainable, creative lives. We invest in valuable, devoted artists to facilitate meaningful arts experiences. 

ACADEMICS: We value relevant, equitable education. We know that the school to prison pipeline is a reality for our scholars and that academic strength is crucial to living a successful life. We are constantly refining our pedagogy in order to equip our scholars to be highly literate, independent thinkers who love to learn. We work intentionally with our scholars to ensure they become academically disciplined without succumbing to intellectual colonization. 

ADVANCEMENT: We value personal growth and social-emotional development. We believe that progress means every human being understands their God-given image, realizes and utilizes the strengths within, and obtains the resources to live truly free. We believe that we are all united by one Creator and are therefore called to radical, compassionate lives. We closely and boldly mentor our scholars on righteous living, community engagement, and leadership development all within a faith-filled life.

ACCESS: We value access to resources for all children and their families. We believe that “it takes a village” to do anything of value, and a village requires resources. We gather resources and strengthen our village to equip and empower our scholars to achieve their goals and be true leaders in our organization. We create spaces that are well-resourced sanctuaries where youth can safely learn, create, and grow. We are dedicated to correcting oppressive systems that are responsible for preventing equal access to all of God’s people.

ADVOCACY: We value quality advocacy in which our people, starting with the youth, are centered as coproducers of our reciprocal programming. We listen to our youth and their families as they express needs and goals. We shows up for our youth in their schools, neighborhoods, and wherever else they need us. We forge meaningful relationships with other organizations who do the same. We stand together interdependently during trials, always assuming the best of one another, and always defending one another’s dignity, internally and externally.

ANTI-RACISM: We value true equality. We acknowledge that racism is threaded into the fabric of this country and it enforces the system of poverty and prevents Black youth from being heard, nurtured, and protected. We strive to be anti-racists in all of our practices and ensure that our organization’s lifestyle is a testimony of antiracism, youth leadership, and cultural competency and compassion. Anti-racism is one of the primary ways we support our youth as they break the cycle of poverty for their families and all of its effects.

“To me young people come first, they have the courage where we fail. 
And if I can but shed some light as they carry us through the gale...
We who believe in freedom cannot rest. 
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes." 
-Ella’s Song, Sweet Honey in the Rock