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Canvas

Postcards for Progress opens Expressions Cafe

While the P2P shuttles drunken revelers to and from their parties, P4P shuttles art between youth from different countries.

Postcards for Progress is a student organization that aims to link local middle school students with international youth by writing postcards and participating in projects together. Sophomore Brendan Yorke began the program began last spring.

Yorke, a sophomore interdisciplinary studies major and the founder of P4P, said he saw a need on campus for intercultural or international collaborations through the arts.

“The arts provide the youth with a common context by which they can relate to one another,” said Yorke. “Arts hold a real power to connect people through different locations by giving them a link,” Yorke said.

Currently P4P is hosting a fund raising program called Expressions Cafe. UNC students are offered an affordable opportunity to express themselves by either painting a mug or by creating an original batik — a wax-dyed fabric — through the cafe.

The money raised by admission to Expressions Cafe goes toward the purchase of art supplies for those who come to the cafe and for P4P’s budget. The cafe is not aimed only at arts students — its founders hope to draw students who just want to express themselves.

“The UNC student that comes to these can not have picked up a paintbrush,” Yorke said.

And while Morgan Skiperdene, the head of fundraising and advertising for Postcards for Progress, said she sees lots of women at these events, there was one male present Friday.

“I really enjoyed this,” said Logan Smeallie, the freshman male in attendance. “I have done things like this before, even though I’m a terrible painter.”

According to Yorke, P4P aided 650 youth connected with nine countries through the arts last summer.

“UNC students domestic and abroad facilitate the exchange, forming the scaffolding for these friendships,” York said.

Skiperdene and Yorke both agreed that they believe that growing friendships across cultures will instill the appreciation for other cultures and use the arts as a catalyst for peace.

“We believe that peace does not come from passive tolerance of other cultures but rather from an active understanding,” York said.

P4P hopes to continue these programs next semester and in the future. They also want to expand on the artistic opportunities for UNC students at the Expression Cafe events.

“We are developing this idea into next semester and doing it on a weekly basis,” Skiperdene said. “We would also like to do workshops with groups, like going to a sorority house or a team-building event.”

While P4P is focused on middle school students, one of their main goals is to include UNC students in the equation and give them an affordable and convenient outlet to express themselves artistically.

“This is a catalyst for people to get a paintbrush and go crazy,” Yorke said. “Everyone has the ability to express themselves.”

Postcards for Progress will host another Expressions Cafe this Friday, Nov. 19. See the group’s website for more information.

Students get crafty at the Postcards for Progress Expressions Cafe

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