Jill Gurr

I founded my nonprofit organization Create Now in Los Angeles in 1996 after discovering that my city was not only one of the most glamorous places in the world, but we also have the highest poverty rate in the U.S., and more incarcerated youth, homeless children and foster kids than the rest of our country. I had a successful career as a script supervisor (continuity) and a screenwriter in the entertainment industry, but helping to save our children was far more compelling.

Create Now is a non-profit organization that transforms the lives of high-risk and at-risk youth through creative arts mentoring, education, resources and opportunities. We serve vulnerable kids ages 2-25 who have been abused, neglected, homeless, teen parents, substance abusers or incarcerated. With our therapeutic programs in music, writing, visual and performing arts, kids learn to express themselves in a positive manner. Each year, we also bring thousands of these children to concerts and plays. We have reached over 28,000 of the most troubled youth in Southern California during the last 15 years.

I was thrilled when the British Council invited me to join their first multilateral Global Xchange program. I spent three weeks in Durban, South Africa in January 2010, and three weeks in Belfast, North Ireland in March, along with 25 other leaders from six countries (France, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, U.K. and U.S.). We shared best practices, volunteered with local community groups and worked together to create local events. It was an amazing adventure that I’ll never forget!

My counterpart was Rafiki Callixte, Project Manager at Les Enfants de Dieu, a residential facility that effects transformation in the lives of Rwandan street children. Rafiki taught me how he used conflict resolution exercises to bring together Hutu and Tutsi youth, and I shared how we use creative arts mentoring to uplift troubled kids.

As a result of this experience, I initiated our newest program Arts xChange, which has been funded by USA for Africa. Using Skype, we’re bringing together 16 Rwandan youth from a group called Sparks for Change, with 16 rival Bloods and Crips gang members in L.A. through Unity One, a prominent gang intervention organization. Starting in February 2012, students on four-person teams and also with counterparts will follow a special 18-week curriculum developed by the Western Justice Center that will prompt discussions about violence, poverty, conflict and acceptance, fused with our “Introduction to Art Workshop.” Participants will be given materials and equipment to create drawings, paintings, sculptures and videos that focus on these issues.

The workshop will culminate with two exhibitions in Kigali and at the Timothy Yarger Fine Art Gallery in Beverly Hills. All youth will receive video cameras and a variety of prizes, as well as positive critique on their artwork and guidance in developing portfolios and careers as visual artists.

We discovered in Belfast that it’s almost impossible to get Protestant and Catholic youth in the same room. The Bloods and Crips made a peace treaty in 1992, but the reality is that these gangs are still at war and it’s challenging to bring them together. As a result, we’re working with two different schools: one with Bloods and the other Crips. Through Create Now’s Arts xChange program, we’ll help break down those walls. At the same time, the Rwanda youth refuse to be known as Hutus or Tutsis. They only want to be known as Rwandans.

This is already a phenomenal learning experience for me and the program hasn’t even begun yet! I can’t thank Global Xchange enough for this incredible opportunity.