The community organization Piñones Aprende y Emprende (PAYE) recently celebrated the culmination of its summer art camp, Somos Artistas, where children aged 3-14 from Piñones, Loíza, and surrounding areas explored art as a tool for expression, reflection, and social transformation. Over several weeks, participants worked with teachers and facilitators to create murals reflecting their feelings on social dynamics in their daily lives.
The murals include 'Nuestras costas', promoting coastal preservation, 'Nuestros reclamos', highlighting community needs and demands, 'Soy historia, soy comunidad', emphasizing the importance of valuing elderly community members, and 'Linaje', recognizing women's contributions to families and new generations. These works will be exhibited at the Centro Emiliano Figueroa, PAYE's home.
According to Tanisha Desireé Gaspar Clemente, PAYE's executive director, the program aimed to give children the space, tools, and confidence to convert their reality into art and imagine a different future. Gaspar emphasized that providing children with the right resources, including committed parents and teachers, community support, and culturally valued education, can help them see that things can be different and is the first step to changing any system.