RGAP: Refugee Garden Art Program
The Refugee Garden Art Program (RGAP) brings together UN refugees, asylum seekers, and volunteers to share space, culture, and healing! Joined by a variety of community organizations, resident art mediators/practitioners, and garden educators, we spend the first half tending to our garden of native and culturally-traditional plants. The second half is spent learning from our community partners or participating in a weekly art project and/or group activity, focused on self-expression, community building, and language practice. Lastly we distribute food that has been harvested in and around Tucson, food that has been rescued by our partner agencies, and vegetables and herbs grown in our garden. RGAP educational themes can be customized by each Art Mediator.
1st Wednesdays of the month: Multicultural Drum Circle with dance. Consists of a fun morning of drumming, dancing, and playing a variety of percussion instruments from around the world! Every Wednesday has art projects available for participants.
2nd Wednesdays of the month: Refugee-led and refugee-focused sessions, giving voice to those who want to share their culture through an activity, art project, cooking demonstration, or anything else they'd like to share. Through these sessions, we come to the realization that refugees and immigrants bring so much with them! They bring gifts: their abilities, their talents, their passion, their dreams, their language, their hopes, and their stories. This is their chance to share those gifts with all of us.
3rd Wednesdays of the month: Mind Body Art (MBA) activities led by UA Professor Aurelia Mouzet. MBA activities are creative workshops that combine movement, body, and emotion expression, improv theatre, and meditation, allowing participants to experience a collective multisensory experience where creativity meets well-being.
4th Wednesdays of the month: Exploring cultural identities and communities through art with Katrina Kerstetter. Inspired by our daily lives, working alongside others in the garden, and picture books provided by Katrina's Multicultural Library Koru, participants are free to create in any medium. It is born of inspiration.
5th Wednesdays of the month: Focus on polylingual and educational games. We bring and play games from cultures around the world. Fostering inclusivity, that promotes cultural awareness and enhances learning and language acquisition experiences. Introducing diverse games, we are exposed to different customs, traditions, and perspectives, broadening our horizons and encouraging acceptance.
All volunteers are encouraged to join in the garden tasks and educational activities as we build community with refugees/asylum seekers. You will experience the pleasure of meeting families from different countries, practicing multiple languages, and learning about other cultures. Volunteers garden as they are able, volunteers help with set up/ break down, and staff the food distribution tables.
We meet every Wednesday from 8-11 am at the Iskashitaa garden at 3736 E. 2nd St. The entrance to our garden/orchard is located on the north side of St. Mark’s Presbyterian Campus, west end of the parking lot with solar panels. One must walk through the “Fruit Cage” where we store all our harvested fruit and vegetables to enter the garden. Expect to be met by volunteers staffing the welcome table where they will ask you to sign in and, if you have not filled the volunteer waiver/photo release form online (see link below), you will be instructed to do so. For refugees, we have a separate Intake Form to collect contact information to better serve you.
We communicate using an RGAP WhatsApp Chat group, so your telephone number will be added to that chat, which you can always leave/opt out of if you choose.
Please fill out the Volunteer Waiver here before attending. Thank You!
