Tina Smith-Brown

Tina will facilitate a letter-writing workshop with students ages 14-18, culminating in the Letter to My Father Workbook. Students will use the art of letter writing to explore their relationship with their father in a formal classroom setting. This project will empower the youth to reflect and release on a very emotional topic that has stigmatized the Philadelphia community for years. Tina comes from a single-mother family and has embraced art and creativity as a vehicle for change.

Letter to my Father is a series of literary workshops that invite women to explore their relationships with their fathers through the unique art of letter writing. The goal is to introduce participants to the artistic expression of letter writing and reveal how it relates to and compliments the remembrance of life-changing moments. Tina envisions the participants of this project using it as a pathway for emotional healing, awareness, and acceptance. The workshops will be held at different community centers across the city, and will include adults and teens. The letters will be converted into a written anthology and put on a website associated with Art Sanctuary.