We recently connected with Liza Hubbell and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Liza, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about serving the underserved.

Art from Ashes exists to serve youth that have experienced struggle, whatever that looks like in their life. We know that young people are often ignored in our American culture and their voices go unheard. We also know that every human is a creative genius, and when we are able to connect to that part of us that speaks, we can shift our perceptions and our responses to our stories. The shift invites transformation, and can literally change lives. We approach the work in an intuitive way, asking the youth to write quickly, without thinking too much, and then we invite them to read what they’ve written to the group on a microphone. It takes courage and vulnerability. The results are often astonishing in the beauty of raw expression. Speaking your truth and lifting your creative voice is a radical act that holds great power.

We also believe that creative endeavor is valuable and we pay our youth performers at various event opportunities like poetry readings and festivals. Our outreach goes in many different directions; we work in alternative schools for young people who’ve become teen parents, have had academic, developmental or personal roadblocks like substance abuse or the experience of being unhoused. We also work collaboratively with other organizations that serve youth in the justice system and ones that protect and serve our LGBTQ+ youth community. This work is vital; it allows young people to experience the power of their voice–expression, connection, transformation.

Liza, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I joined Art from Ashes about a year ago, after a two decades’ long career in classroom teaching and education administration. During my teaching career, I was largely focused on teaching the English language, so when I discovered that Art from Ashes doesn’t teach poetry but instead leverages poetry and spoken word as a platform for creative self-expression, I was intrigued and wanted to understand the process more deeply. It didn’t make sense to my teacher brain at first, but one aspect of Art from Ashes that I feel is incredibly important is that each workshop facilitator is required to go through the curriculum themselves, in an adult workshop series that covers the Phoenix Rising curriculum designed by AfA’s founder, Catherine O’Neill Thorn. We don’t ask the youth to do anything we haven’t done ourselves. The curriculum is ultimately quite complex, and takes participants to difficult emotional places before leading them to an opportunity for transformation. It’s fascinating to me, how the simple, elegant approach can resonate so deeply, and I think it has everything to do with working from the right brain and outrunning the left brain with our writing prompts. Catherine is a genius of orchestration, timing and depth and I am continuously amazed by the legacy of her work. We are all committed to implementing her curricula with fidelity, and I think this makes our organization unique; we really do work tirelessly to hold the space for youth so they can not just express themselves in any way they choose, but also find connection that leads to transformation. My experience with AfA over the last year has had a profound impact on me; the format provides a distillation of creative content that is unfiltered and real. The format cuts to the power of poetry in a way totally unlike more traditional approaches. We don’t censor language of any kind; we only ask that they adhere to our one rule of respect, which means respect for self and others. We tell the youth not to worry about conventions of spelling or whether the poem rhymes; we often say, “everything’s a poem” because it’s true. There is no wrong way for one to express oneself and everything we think, feel and perceive is valid. We also have the power to transform our perceptions and begin to heal, reckoning with our past. This way of working is a total paradigm shift for me, after years of studying and teaching forms of poetry and the ‘canon’ of major poets. I see its power and purity in every workshop I co-facilitate and the bravery demonstrated by the youth as they step up to the mic and share something they’ve written in 3 minutes is an honor to witness. Working in this way has also revitalized my own poetry. Having written poetry for most of my life, I labored under the cloud of judgement about it; was it ‘good enough”? Now, when I write, I don’t listen to that internal editor while I am doing it, I just write and let whatever is in my head fall out. It’s incredibly liberating and I often really like what I’ve done. If I don’t, I can either change it or just walk away from it; there’s always more poetry inside of me.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

In my career, I have worked with hundreds of young people. Being part of their journey, even in a small way, has meant the world to me. Humans are built for connection and we make meaning through stories, our stories and those of others. Finding our voice and using it with confidence is a sometimes difficult thing to do, and if I can facilitate that growth for young people, I believe I am doing something that matters. You can’t measure the impact you might have on another person with certainty; you have to trust that even a small kindness, a brief connection and the ability to show up for someone and hold space for them to be who they are has value. I believe that doing small things with great love is the best way for me to show up in the world. I know that creative work is an essential practice–fostering curiosity, wonder, healing and joy. If I can help make that happen for others and be grateful that it also happens in my life, I can be proud of the work I do.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Since the age of five, I’ve only ever wanted to be a teacher. My parents were both teachers, and we have a lot of teachers in our extended family. While I do feel it’s a vital profession–educating the future–and I am proud that I did it for many years, the thing that I’ve had to unlearn is that the classroom space is the only place it can happen. Education happens everywhere; it’s embedded in the work that I do at Art from Ashes. We don’t teach poetry as a discipline to be attained; we facilitate access. While the work may not hold the rules of grammar or names of poets laureate, it holds a much more important canon, the canon of self-knowledge and empowerment. The unlearning is a journey I am on, and one without an arrival point; I am continuously exploring this new terrain in order to be of service to young people and to grow as a person.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.artfromashes.org
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Art.from.Ashes
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/artfromashes
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ArtfromAshes

Image Credits
all photos were taken by AfA and Scott Colby