If young people and police officers create art together, what kind of understanding can they reach? Workshops led by the Arts Empowerment Project, a Charlotte program that uses art to heal vulnerable youth, took a recent step toward answering that question.

Shemika Robinson was driving home from work one day when all of a sudden her vision went dark. Terrified, she stopped her Jeep Cherokee in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant and called her older brother, screaming, “I can’t see! I can’t see!”

When Brian Sullivan was in grad school, he became enamored with community music and folk music. He still is. ASC recently awarded the musician a $2,000 Artist Support Grant to help fund what he calls “group ukulele experiences.” The grant allows him to “explore a side of music-teaching and -making in a way (he) hadn’t been able to before.”