LYNN — It’s Monday afternoon and the first-floor space at Raw Art Works’ (RAW) 37 Central Square headquarters is a mess.
Paint brushes and art supplies litter several tables. Colorful drawings and pictures of butterflies and caterpillars are scattered willy-nilly throughout. Creative types aren’t known as the neatest individuals, but really!
Rosario Ubiera-Minaya, executive director, and Mariah Neuroth, deputy director, aren’t concerned. By the time Saturday night rolls around, when RAW hosts its BASH 2025 fundraiser, this space will come alive. This well-lighted room will be the scene of a festive celebration. After all, this is where some 400 students and staff members create magic every afternoon throughout the school year.
BASH is RAW’s major fundraiser. An ambitious $100,000 goal has been set. “This space will be transformed into a different world on Saturday. This is no rubber-chicken dinner fundraiser. Our supporters will experience RAW in all its lively, creative glory,” said Neuroth.
Attendees are encouraged to dress in a way that shows off their personality and free-spiritness. “Be yourself,” said Rosario, whether it’s a button-down look, a flamboyant multi-colored frock or a simple tee-shirt and jeans.
This year’s theme: Magnify. “Magnify your curiosity, creativity, and community.” Certainly, the youths’ voices are magnified every day here.
A VIP event will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, with a live art auction (featuring works by RAW alumni and staff, new and old) being the centerpiece. Michael J. Bobbitt from the Mass Cultural Council will offer special remarks.
From 8 to 11 p.m., the Party with a Purpose celebration continues with live entertainment, yummy eats by Oh Jolie Catering of Peabody, open bar and, of course, stunning art displays. A silent auction of one-of-a-kind art will be held. The dance floor promises to be crowded.
Last year, Bruce Herring was honored for his contributions, financial and otherwise, to RAW. This year, Mollie Byrnes and her late husband John will be honored as advocates for RAW’s mission and champions of many nonprofit causes on the North Shore.
The host committee of BASH 2025 includes Ana Colmenero and Hoyt Van Otterloo, Magnolia Contreras and David Solimine Jr., Naomi Cottrell and Rick Jones, Beth and Rich Francis, Bob and Jose Goldman, and Carol Lavoie Schuster and Paul Schuster.
Sponsors include the Cummings Foundation, New England Biolabs, Peter and Elizabeth Tower Foundation, Mass Cultural Council, Shlomo Fund, United Way of Massachusetts Bay, Wellington Management Foundation, Essex County Community Foundation, Cell Signaling Technology, Hatch the Agency, International Interior Design Association, Jones Architecture, and Solimine Funeral Home.
RAW is more than just an after-school art program. Raw Art Works has been a life-changer for hundreds of local youngsters since it was founded by Mary Flannery in 1994.
A bit of history from RAW’s website:
In 1988, RAW designed the first statewide art therapy program for incarcerated youth, placing paintbrushes into the hands of kids. The teens RAW was working with would sometimes admit to committing crimes to get back into these detention centers because that was the only place where they felt a sense of belonging. At the time, RAW’s founder Flannery was living in Lynn and was painfully aware of how many teens from her community were incarcerated. She believed RAW could be a life-changing option for Lynn youth; an alternative to these detention centers. A place they could go before their lives got to that point. In 1994, Mary and Kit Jenkins opened RAW Space in Lynn, with a small group of passionate art therapists. All shared the belief that good things happen when kids feel they are a vital part of a creative community that truly cares.
What started as a single-room studio, working with 16 RAW teens, is now a nationally-recognized organization, and social anchor in Lynn. RAW continues to provide 400+ youth annually with opportunities to participate in visual and expressive arts groups, film school, leadership development, employment opportunities, and college access/career exploration programming. By staffing its programs with art therapists and teaching artists, RAW effectively uses the arts as a powerful medium to deeply engage underserved youth of all ages
Even during COVID, the RAW staff worked tirelessly to make sure the majority of its group programs were accessible online.
Many RAW graduates are now staff members. Michael Aghahowa first walked through RAW’s welcoming doors as a Lynn 4th-grader at age 12. RAW’s programs and support ignited his hidden creativity. Today, he is a full-time Program Lead at RAW and one of the region’s top artists/muralists. He attended RAW for six years before earning a full scholarship to Montserrat College of Art, where he received his BFA with a concentration in illustration, collage, and painting. Eight alumni are on staff.
Jason Cruz, who has helped change the lives of many Lynn youngsters since 1994, remains a major player at RAW. Aghahowa said Cruz’s belief in the transformative power of public art inspired his own journey as an artist, shaping his understanding of art as both a career and a means of community empowerment.
Caleb Keys, an Americorps Fellow and Montserrat College of Art grad, said he serves alongside RAW’s program staff to ensure multilingual learners experience a sense of belonging and have opportunities to further develop their SEL skills.
“There is a feeling of community here, and I was welcomed into that community. The kids I work with feel it, too. They tell me ‘This is one place I feel I can be myself.”
Ubiera-Minaya said RAW is embarking on a new 5-year plan. “How can we maximize the use of our building and further build partnership opportunities? What is our community today and who do we want to be? We are looking at all areas … and setting our next set of priorities. There will be three to five pillars we will focus on and build on. … RAW is impactful in so many ways. It’s a place of belonging for so many. It’s rooted deeply in what young people are saying.”
In addition to Saturday’s fundraiser, a block party will take over Central Square on May 29, and 2025 graduates will be honored at the event. RAW’s Real 2 Reel Filmschool will screen student works on May 27 at The Cabot theater in Beverly.
For additional information about BASH, go to https://www.rawartworks.org/bash-25
