Grantee Spotlight: Women on the Rise!
at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami

With help from funding by Women’s Fund of Miami-Dade, Women on the Rise!, a project at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, is boosting the self-esteem of over 600 at-risk, teenage girls in Miami-Dade County every year. Through workshops in contemporary art, art history, and creative writing, the program presents contemporary female artists as positive role models for the girls. The program also includes field trips to view exhibitions that feature women artists and explores sensitive themes like body-image, ethnic heritage and identity.

As the only gender-specific grant-making organization in Miami-Dade County, Women’s Fund provides funding to programs like Women on the Rise! that serve the urgent and growing needs of women and girls by developing critical thinking skills, examining stereotypes and encouraging social change.

One artist who has made a major impact on Women on the Rise! participants is Cuban artist Ana Mendieta. During her time in foster care, she suffered abuse from foster families. Her art inspires many of the girls to deal with their pain – often for the first time – through art.

“The girls come with this idea that art has no relationship to their lives. When they come into contact with an artist like Mendieta, it really empowers them,” explains the program’s coordinator, Jillian Hernandez.

MOCA's innovative outreach program helps girls from the Gladstone Center for Girls, Girls Advocacy Project (GAP) at the Miami-Dade Juvenile Detention Center, the Village residential drug treatment center, COPE Center North, Thelma Gibson Health Initiative, and seven other partner programs.

“There is one girl who participated at three different places and now has a very sophisticated understanding of contemporary art,” Hernandez says. “There’s also a girl who didn’t want to participate at first, but later motivated other girls to get into it.”

Word has spread about the effectiveness of Women on the Rise! and Hernandez frequently fields calls from social service and arts professionals around the country who are looking for ideas to integrate into their programming. “This curriculum prompts instant discussion,” explains Hernandez. “One woman in Philadelphia used some of the lessons in her work with the homeless population.”

The program was featured on the cover of The New York Times Arts & Leisure section in 2006 and recently, Atlanta’s High Museum of Art expressed interest in starting a similar project.

“It has taken on its own life. I hope to see this program everywhere,” she says.