Michelle Hays

Borderland Youth at Texas State University, San Marcos

Grant Awarded: $11,000

Borderland Youth at Texas State University is a social arts project that facilitates participating and collaborative art projects with youth, artists and teachers.

To extend Borderland’s work to a larger audience, Hays Design Studio produced 1,500 informational brochures about the organization and 3,000 sets of Newcomers refugee photo/curriculum cards featuring photographs by refugee youth living in San Antonio. The brochures are designed to get teachers and students talking about refugee and immigrant lives in America, beginning with talking about their own personal histories. The brochures and postcards were distributed in the U.S., in parts of Africa and to policy makers at the United Nations Refugee Agency in Geneva. The materials helped Borderland Collective break down borders surrounding refugee communities, build an understanding of art’s role in social policy and community building, and pique the interest of local public policy makers and educators.