Hamrah Arts Club Fundraiser

Hamrah Arts Club is a creative community and safe space to improve the lives of refugee-status youth. By donating to Hamrah Arts Club’s fundraiser, you will help better the lives of people who have fled war and violence and recently resettled in Southern AZ.

For donations of $500 or more, you will receive an editioned lithograph that I made in collaboration with Normal Editions Workshop at Illinois State University in 2019. For more information about the print, please click here. There are ten prints available!

My name is Nazafarin Lotfi, and I am a visual artist, educator, organizer, and refugee advocate based in Tucson. I have worked with refugee-status communities for several years, mentoring youth and organizing arts and cultural events. Hamrah means comrade in my first language Farsi, and I started the Arts Club to create a support system and a close network among youth who have experienced displacement.

Since January 2022, the Arts Club has consisted of weekly open studio time at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Tucson, where students work on art projects of their choice, and the Arts Club has provided supplies. Right now, I am seeking funding to produce a more formal curriculum and pilot a ten-week-long series of workshops centered around healing and arts.

The workshops will be free and through a nomination/application process for youth between the age of 15-25, offering transportation, multilingual translation services, art supplies, snacks, and a small stipend. To ensure the success of the workshops, I will collaborate with community partners, including the Refugee Youth Mentorship Program (RYMP) at Lutheran Social Services and MOCA Tucson, to provide a safe and comfortable creative space.

So far, I have received a small grant through the Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona to cover some of the programming costs. I have also established a relationship with MOCA Tucson to use their education space at no charge. I am still looking to raise $5,000 by August 31st to pay for art supplies, equipment, interpreters, transportation, and the stipend for the participants. Your donations will support me in launching the first round of Hamrah Arts Club’s Workshops. If the first series of workshops is a success, we will be able to request institutional funding through RYMP and MOCA to ensure the program continues.

Art not only shapes how we see the world but also stimulates our intellect and expands our emotional capacity. Likewise, imagination is proven to be instrumental in provoking change. These workshops are an excellent opportunity to address the importance of mental well-being and self-care and their relationship to creativity and imagination in healing trauma, particularly for a community that has been through a lot of stress and struggles with anxiety and PTSD.

Thank you so much for your attention and participation.