Design for Good brought the lights, camera and the action to this past Saturday’s Summer Night Lights! SNL of Jacksonville is a great summer program geared towards reducing youth violence and crime, that provides positive activities and structure to local kids and teens. Found in 10 different locations across Jacksonville, Summer Night Lights runs from the end of June through the month of August. 

During our first session we focused on collaboration. Working in pairs, each participant folded a piece of paper in half and drew to their hearts content for a fixed amount of time. At the end of that time period, the paper was flipped over and passed to their partner who filled in the other half of the page. Once unfolded the kids got to see how different styles and themes could come together to create one image.

Design for Good left the center that first night to a gauntlet of hugs and promises that we’d be back the next Saturday.

The second session was all about long exposure photography. We brought in an assortment of glow sticks and camera’s. The kids were reluctant at first, requiring a little nudge to get the creative juices flowing but once they got the hang of it and we saw how the photographs were turning out, they were full steam ahead. Under the direction of Amanda Langenbach, on the Design for Good Committee, the kids created shapes, spelled out words, made some amazing patterns and literally lit up the event. They had the opportunity to get exposed to a very cool art medium and their images turned out great. The age range of participants this session was much broader, bringing in more kids and helping to make it a great success.

And this Saturday, we’ll be at the Emmet Reed Community Center – 1093 W 6th St, Jacksonville, FL with all of the fun and creativity! If you’re looking to get involved, just email vicepresident@aigajacksonville.org for more info! 

You can check out all of the photos on our flickr stream.