To volunteer with One Love Generation, go to www.onelovegeneration.org
Jennifer Lingvall wanted to help channel the positivity embedded in youth today. “I feel like they have a hunger for positive change and are aware of social and cultural issues,” said Lingvall. “Art and mentoring are a few tools I know how to work with, and so the idea for One Love Generation started to form.”
OLG hosts two studio programs, a mentorship program , summer portfolio camp , and an international art service program. Each program serves teens 13-18, is free of charge and emphasizes the One Love Generation vision to “create a generation of service-minded people who give back to the world by using their innate gifts,” said Lingvall.
On May 3, OLG hosted its annual One Love Stache Dash in Buckhead prompting thousands of sombrero-clad runners and Cinco de Mayo revelers to take the streets.
Keif Schleifer is an OLG Artist Mentor & International Art Service Project Team Leader, who’s been with the organization since 2011.
“Through our work in this art-filled environment, we learn team-building, patience and communication skills from one another,” said Schleifer. “Our activities are guided by awareness, intentionality and a desire to contribute to the greater good. Art is just one of the tools we use to teach talented teens how to hone and expand their skills and use their talent to do good in the world.”
He mentors Neelie Kibler, a senior at North Atlanta High School, on arts advocacy and development that is showing great results in attempts to fund OLG’s international art program. They worked on a 125 x 25 foot mural in Costa Rica last year.
Kibler started at OLG three years ago.
“I was self-conscious and just looking for a place to do art. I joined and was immediately blown away by the love and care,” she said. “I kept coming back because the community and atmosphere feels like home and was a comfortable place for me to find my voice. … I have become infinitely more confident and sure of myself.”
Lingvall founded One Love Generation in 2009 with a small number of artists at Sammye E. Coan Middle School in the Kirkwood neighborhood. With her determination and growth, OLG has grown to 100 participants.
The organization always looks for guest artists, studio mentor artists, guest speakers or teen artist mentors to continue developing youth potential through art.
“One Love Generation is a place where teens are seen and heard — all of them,” Lingvall adds. “It is a community the kids belong to, and a place where they can be creative to limitless extents.”
In other news: The 13th Annual Pink Affair gala was held March 22 at Country Club of the South, Johns Creek. More than 200 people were at the benefi for TurningPoint Breast Cancer Rehabilitation. Nearly $30,000 was raised during the evening for the organization that provides specialized and evidenced-based rehabilitation for women with breast cancer, including physical therapy, massage therapy, counseling and nutritional counseling.
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