808 Urban to launch its first Mai’a Project, a social entrepreneurial art education series

808 Urban is launching its first Mai’a Project through an IndieGoGo fundraising campaign on Friday, June 1, 2012. The project has a social entrepreneurial focus, engaging youth to work with nonprofit clients to design merchandise lines through a series of arts-education workshops. The first workshop in the series, beginning June 6, 2012 and running for twelve weeks, will be a collaboration with Pacific Alliance toStop Slavery (PASS). Through learning about PASS, youth become educators in Hawai’i working to find visual solutions to help stop sex-trafficking.

The Mai’a Project allows groups of youth to learn how to make design proposals for clients to raise funds for their own education and art classes. A team of artists and educators will train
808 Urban youth artists to create a line of merchandise for a client. Targeted clients for The Mai'a Project are other nonprofit organizations and local businesses with a rich history of social change in Hawai'i.

During the workshop series the youth will learn about creating concepts, proposals, t-shirt designs, sewing, graphics, and portfolio building.  Every 808 Urban Mai'a Project is funded through an online campaign and private donors before the project begins. Each group of youth are also taught how to make their own fundraising campaigns to raise funds for future projects/clients of their choosing. Youth, teaching artists/educators, 808 Urban and the client all share in profits from the merchandise.

808 Urban’s IndieGoGo campaign will help raise funds for start-up costs, teaching artist and educator stipends, youth stipends, and art supplies. Community support for the project is encouraged through monetary and supply donations. The first merchandise line designed by 808 Urban youth artists for PASS will be sold at 808 Urban’s community arts hub and storefront, The Refuge, which recently opened in April in Kaka’ako.