2025 Louisville Photo Biennial features Home of the Innocents residents' work
- Elizabeth Kramer
- Aug 21
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 12
HeARTStories Connected Participants with Louisville's Artists and its Creative Community
“I am so happy. You don’t know how happy this makes me.” One young person from Home of the Innocents said this while snapping photographs on a sunny spring day early in HeARTStories, an Arts Angle Vantage program.
This was the beginning of six weeks, over which a group of nearly 15 teens received guidance from photographers Ayrica Bishop and Andrew Cenci on using DSLR cameras, while Elizabeth Kramer introduced them to storytelling about the arts through journalism.
Che Rhodes showed participants artist Mark Peiser’s works and equipment on exhibit at the University of Louisville's Cressman Center for the Visual Arts. Rhodes also gave them a tour of the adjacent hot shop, where students make glass art. Photo by Elayna Gilbert.
On Sept. 11, their photographs go on exhibit at Jefferson Community & Technical College’s Krantz Gallery in a show that is part of this year’s Louisville Photo Biennial. The exhibit runs through Oct. 15. From 3 to 6 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 13, Arts Angle Vantage and Home of the Innocents will celebrate the participants and their work at an opening
all the gallery, 110 W. Chestnut St.
HeARTStories participants photographed and reported on creative experiences in sessions and outings where they met actors, musicians and visual artists. They saw a rehearsal and a play at Actors Theatre of Louisville. They attended a Louisville Orchestra concert, toured the University of Louisville Cressman Center of Visual Art and its glass studio, and visited the St. Patrick’s Day Parade staging area. Several participants said this was their first time seeing a play or an orchestra performance.
Stephen Cowart, Home of the Innocents’ activities coordinator for residential treatment and emergency services, called HeARTStories important.
“Our young people gained an opportunity to experience life instead of watching others live that life,” Coward said. “Most of them are used to experiences that revolve around what they can't do, what they've lost or what has been taken away from them. With this program, they were able to interact with the public and the community at large, grow and build themselves to ultimately become the type of people we want to fill our society. Those people appreciate creativity, imagination and the arts.”
Cast and crew of Actors Theatre of Louisville's production of "Flex." Photos top left and right by Elena Gilbert. Photo bottom right by Elle Oaks. Photo bottom left by Lilla Lynn.
During the weeks of HeARTStories, participants also read articles about the arts and examined photographs about the arts. They learned about aspects of photography, including depth of field, the rule of thirds, and more, as well as reporting techniques, observing and recording details, and noting quotes.
“The progress the students made in HeARTStories is truly amazing," said photography instructor Andrew Cenci. "Teaching photography in this setting, the students' excitement about making photos, and wanting to get better made it so easy and such a joy to share things I have learned.”
The activities aligned with Arts Angle Vantage’s mission to provide young people from diverse backgrounds with access to the arts and empower them to use their voices and create stories. This helps strengthen their critical and creative thinking skills and prepares them for success.
Finding and Using Their Voices through Art and Artists
Their enthusiasm to use their voices was unmistakable, especially when they met artists with whom they strongly connected.
Louisville Orchestra musicians and audience at the March Music Without Borders performance. Photo top left by Lilla Lynn. Photo top right by Lilla Lynn. Photo bottom right by Elena Gilbert of Jessica Chancy. Photo bottom left by Elena Gilbert.
“They were riveted during a visit by Louisville Orchestra flutist Jessica Chancy as she spoke about her musical life — how she started playing music and the obstacles and opportunities she found on her path,” Kramer said. “But that impression she made was clear and remarkable when they wrote pieces about that interaction. One teen wrote about how she related to Jessica’s love of music, comparing it to her own love of heavy metal and working with her own band.”
In June, participants and staff celebrated participants’ accomplishments at Home of the Innocents with the release of a book containing their writing and photos and a private exhibit of selected photos. (To see the book, scroll down.) Because the participants are minors, they gave us pen names to use as credits on articles and photographs to ensure their privacy.
Home of the Innocents CEO Paul Robinson saw the photos on exhibit and the book released that day at the celebration.
“Programs like HeARTStories are important for our residents because they provide both a creative outlet and a learning opportunity for youth who may not have access to the arts otherwise,” Robinson said. “These programs are rare but meaningful, and we are incredibly grateful that Elizabeth and her team could bring this project to the Home.”
Among the book’s written pieces are one participant’s essay about her musical life and love of heavy metal and another’s review of Actors Theatre of Louisville’s production of the play “Flex.”
“Those are my words on that page?” said the review’s author as she looked through the book during the June celebration. “I wrote that. I can’t believe I’m seeing my piece published like this.”
Those Who Made HeARTStories Possible
Our hearts are full with gratitude to the Home of the Innocents’ staff and the many artists and arts organizations that opened their doors and hearts to us and the participants. Those include Actors Theatre of Louisville and Ben Gierhart; Louisville Orchestra and Jacob Gotlib; University of Louisville’s Cressman Center for the Visual Arts and Ché Rhodes; and the Ancient Order of Hibernians Louisville and John O'Dwyer.
Stephen Cowart, Home of the Innocents’ activities coordinator for residential treatment and emergency services (left), and Andrew Cenci, artist and Arts Angle Vantage photo instructor. Photo by Elena Gilbert.
We deeply appreciate the Fund for the Arts pairing Arts Angle Vantage with the Home of the Innocents for this fulfilling experience and the Louisville Metro Government for the funding that made it possible. Thanks to Jefferson Community & Technical College and Terry W. Lutz, the dean of its Dean, Business & Technology Division and a professor in the Communication Arts Technology program, for the welcoming this work into the Krantz Gallery; to the Louisville Photo Biennial, including Festival Director Paul Paletti and Sam Miller, and Frances Ward Simmons, designer and Arts Angle Vantage board member, for illuminating the participants’ work with her book design.
Efforts to Continue HeARTStories
Seeing this program’s successes, Home of the Innocents and Arts Angle Vantage want to continue offering these workshops for teen residents and have begun preparing for a reprise this fall.
However, the Louisville Metro Government eliminated funding and ended the HeARTS Initiative in June. As the initiative’s sole funding source from 2022 through 2025, it had supported arts programs in community centers and organizations across Jefferson County.
Home of the Innocents and Arts Angle Vantage are working to find new resources to continue what we started.
When you give to Arts Angle Vantage, you fund this and other important work that connects young people to art and our community and elevates their voices. Note, Arts Angle Vantage is part of Give for Good Louisville on Thursday, Sept. 18.
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