Lifesongs receives Envision Fund grant for new project benefiting LGBTQ+ community

The Academy for the Love of Learning is pleased to announce the gift of a $5,000 grant to the Lifesongs program from the Envision Fund, an initiative of the Santa Fe Community Foundation. The Envision Fund gives voice to New Mexico’s LGBTQ+ community by supporting conversations that inspire intellectual curiosity and increases education, understanding, and awareness.

Lifesongs Director and Co-Founder Acushla Bastible has pledged to use the support from the Envision Fund to work with the NM Gay Straight Alliance Network on a new collaboration in 2017: “Our Voices, Our Stories.” Spanning several months, LGBTQ+ elders and LGBTQ+ identified youth in Santa Fe will be provided the chance to foster meaningful relationships, learn from and about one another, and lift up the elders’ life stories under the guidance of lead facilitator Vanessa Torres. Each collaborating pair of LGBTQ elder and youth will engage in a process of creating an original song, with the mentorship and support of Lifesongs artist facilitators. The youth and elders will be offered a rare chance for intergenerational conversations, skills- and story sharing, culminating in an evening performance of the songs by professional artists and musicians to honor each individual’s unique history.

Thank you to the Santa Fe Community Foundation for empowering at-risk and underserved LGBTQ+ New Mexicans through the Envision Fund, and congratulations to all of the 2016 recipients. A program within the Academy’s Institute for Living Story, Lifesongs is a meaningful program that dignifies vital chapters of our lives, and the encouragement from the Envision Fund will continue to promote social inclusion and dignity for our elders and LGBTQ+ youth.

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