Revision<\/a> is a nonprofit and creative arts program, funded through the San Diego Regional Center, which is among more than 20 of its kind throughout the state, providing support services for people with developmental disabilities. Boe and her co-founder, Joshua Bellfy, started the organization in 2017, and their mission has been to provide inclusive access to art, culture, and environmental education. This includes providing open studio space for adult artists with developmental disabilities, Monday through Friday, and free of charge. Participants also work with mentors, attend workshops, help with community projects, and interact with members of the public, who are also able to access some of the programming for a fee.<\/p>\n\u201cI wanted to create a space that didn\u2019t feel like an academic space, and that existed for all different types of abilities, not just people who were enrolled in a school system. I wanted it to feel inclusive to all people\u2026I think environmental education is something that comes sort of naturally to me, but I also think that it\u2019s important to incorporate that into art making. We do a lot of projects with recycled materials, and things where we\u2019re thinking creatively about waste,\u201d Boe says. \u201cI think culture, in the city, is something that is needed; obviously, inclusion and incorporating people with disabilities into the mainstream is a huge part of our mission. I work in the field of social justice, so that was the main reason why Revision was born, to combine all three of those interests.\u201d<\/p>\n
After working in a bookstore in her 20s, where she became friends with one of the members of a group of people with disabilities who used to visit the bookstore, she began volunteering with an organization that focused on working with neurodiverse individuals. That led to a job working at an art gallery for adults with developmental disabilities, and then as a supported living coordinator for a company providing support services for the same community.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring that time, I was able to put together the design for Revision. I was like, \u2018This is great. They\u2019re really working with people to help them have a full life. They\u2019re treating people like citizens,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of why I went in that direction, and that\u2019s what propelled me to do something like Revision, which is giving artists the opportunity to be treated as professionals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boe, 42, is founder and director at Revision and lives in Hillcrest with her 8-year-old son, Mason. She took some time to talk about her work and why it\u2019s important to her to provide a space where people can build connections and relationships with each other.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0<\/strong>What drew you to this field of work in disability rights and services?<\/p>\nA:<\/strong> I wanted to offer something that didn\u2019t exist because I didn\u2019t see an alternative to just having a day program or having a job. With somebody who\u2019s creative who happens to have a disability, but also is a really creative person, I found that there were so many people out there that happened to be that person and I wanted to give them a chance to have a place where they could practice, where their art could be seen at a gallery, where they could sell their artwork, and they could learn how to make merchandise. Just because they don\u2019t have the funds to have their own private studio, that was the only thing that was really holding them back. There\u2019s just so much talent out there. When I was working at the gallery, it just seemed like such a different avenue that wasn\u2019t being explored. I love the arts and I wanted to create a new avenue for people.<\/p>\nQ:\u00a0<\/strong>What did you see and learn during those early years that helped shape your perspective on the kind of work that you would go on to do later?<\/p>\nA:\u00a0<\/strong>Treating the individual as an individual is very important. I think, in this field, sometimes there can be a lot of generalization happening, where people might think or say, \u2018Oh, this person has autism, therefore they do this,\u201d but what it really comes down to is just getting to know that individual and learning about what they do and what works best for them. Revision is definitely more of a family vibe\u2014we work together, we hang out together, we learn from each other. It\u2019s a lot of peer-to-peer learning; it\u2019s definitely not a teacher-to-student type of arrangement. That\u2019s not how we work together. In my experiences, early on, I noticed a lot of, \u201cI\u2019m in charge, you do what I say\u201d approach that did not agree with me.<\/p>\nWhat I love about Hillcrest\u2026<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve lived here for over 10 years, and I feel like a lot of people come here to hang out and to enjoy the restaurants and things like that. As a person who lives here, I feel like our neighborhood has a strong sense of protection. There\u2019s just a strong sense of unity with people who live here. Openness and care for each other. Also, it\u2019s just very happy, you know? There\u2019s always something joyful happening in Hillcrest.<\/p>\n
Q:\u00a0<\/strong>What are some ways that Revision has evolved or adjusted to the needs of the artists in your organization?<\/p>\nA:\u00a0<\/strong>When we first started, we were really small. It was a part-time pilot program where we only had a few people attending part time; then it grew really fast, so we had to expand pretty quickly. Even though our studio space still is really small\u2014we have less than 10 artists working at a time in one room\u2014we still have to adapt to having a lot of different personalities working together. Sometimes that requires a lot of energy and a lot of planning. I guess the best way to answer that would be to say that we\u2019re just learning how to adapt to different personalities as we get to know different people, and as they join. Every time we have a new artist join, there\u2019s a little ripple effect that happens where people get to know them and adjust a little bit, so that\u2019s been the biggest thing. We\u2019re just making sure that people feel comfortable as we grow, and making sure that we still are providing quality services to people, which I think we do because we grow really slowly and intentionally.<\/p>\nQ:\u00a0<\/strong>Can you share any examples of artists who\u2019ve talked about their experiences with Revision?<\/p>\nA:\u00a0<\/strong>Yeah, we have two artists that met in the program that are now dating. I think that\u2019s the hugest success story. Charlie and Charlotte are two people that we were like, \u2018Ah, I think you and you would be really cute together,\u2019 and they are. I think they just had their first anniversary and they\u2019re a really good match. It\u2019s not just that they spend time together and eventually got together, they have similar interests. They share the same religion, they like the same music; they\u2019re a really solid couple.<\/p>\nQ:\u00a0<\/strong>What is your own background in the arts?<\/p>\nA:\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019ve always been creative. I hesitate to say that I\u2019m an artist, but I\u2019m crafty. I\u2019ve been involved in the arts since I was little, but I don\u2019t have a degree in the arts. I like to do like weaving and sculpture, and I like to use items that I find at thrift stores, primarily. And, paper craft, those are my three. Paper crafts are like collage or mixed media, but I don\u2019t do paintings or anything like that. Sometimes I sell my work, but most of the time, I feel like the last decade of my life has been acting as an agent for other people\u2019s art. I\u2019ll participate in an open call for art when we have them, and I\u2019ll put something up when we do a display, but most of the time I just really like to support other people\u2019s artwork.<\/p>\nQ:\u00a0<\/strong>What is the best advice you\u2019ve ever received?<\/p>\nA:\u00a0<\/strong>I really like this poem by Alice Walker, \u201cExpect Nothing.\u201d The poem is basically about not expecting handouts, and being surprised by what you receive. It\u2019s basically about having gratitude, and I think that that\u2019s a piece of advice I\u2019ve given to my friends. It\u2019s a piece of advice that I remind myself about, often.<\/p>\nQ:\u00a0<\/strong>What is one thing people would be surprised to find out about you?<\/p>\nA:\u00a0<\/strong>I don\u2019t have a college degree. I like telling people this because I feel like there is, sometimes, an expectation for people in leadership positions to have a lot of titles, and the college routine did not work for me. I chose to work and have experience as my form of education, and I feel like a lot more people should be proud of that, if that\u2019s their format, as well. I like sharing that; it\u2019s unexpected. Persistence and optimism and action are really important to me, and those things have helped me. And, having a lot of hands-on experience in this field has been extremely valuable.<\/p>\nQ:<\/strong> Please describe your ideal San Diego weekend.<\/p>\nA:\u00a0<\/strong>Strong coffee, vintage trailer camping at Pinecrest (Retreat, in Julian), and going to an estate sale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joy Boe worked in many different areas of service for people with disabilities, but it was an arts…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":258879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,1073,728,50,3546,3549,3550,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-258878","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-columns","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-people","15":"tag-san-diego","16":"tag-san-diego-county","17":"tag-sandiego","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115276610574317770","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}