Mario Barela has been a dedicated Professional Teaching Artist for Art Heals Arizona since 2008. He has contributed both his time and talent to reach the children of Art Heals Arizona partner agencies, even in a time of social distancing and mask mandates.  

As Art Heals Arizona eased back into in-person programming, this year’s Storybook Ballet was reimagined with the health and safety of participating children top of mind.

With the arrival of COVID, words like “unprecedented” and “pivoting” and “lock down” became common language to all of us.  Art Heals Arizona was no exception.

For the past month, just as the Art Heals Arizona staff begins to clock out for the night on Wednesday evenings, the building is rejuvenated with hope, creativity, and excitement.

In the fall of 2020, Art Heals Arizona initiated a re-imagined version of the Professional Artist Series. Knowing that the children we serve were in need of artistic expression to help them process and express themselves, we partnered with three partner agencies that had shown interest in on-site programs for the fall. Our teaching artists...

Each fall for the past 18 years, Art Heals Arizona has partnered with Dance Theater West (DTW) to recreate DTW’s Storybook Ballet production featuring Art Heals Arizona children.  Our beloved partnership continued last September, when more than 20 Art Heals Arizona children performed alongside DTW dancers at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. Director...

In November of 2018, over 30 children from Art Heals Arizona programs assisted teaching artist Andy Brown in completing a mural on the North wall of the newly redeveloped Point b offices in downtown Phoenix. The mural located on Central and Roosevelt is entitled Perspective Landscape and depicts the idea that things can look differently...

There is a growing concern, particularly in Southwest states like Arizona, about the children crossing the United States border and who are then held in detention centers and shelters while they work through the immigration process.  They are often referred to as “border children”, but the legal term for them is “unaccompanied minors” as they...

Except for one, it was the first time that the girls had visited a museum.  As they toured the Teotihuacan: City of Water, City of Fire exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum they were reminded of their own heritage.  The teen girls participating in this Professional Artist Series, a collaboration between Art Heals Arizona for Abused Children...