Creative by Nature is an arts-based outdoors program raising funds to create equitable and empowering access to the arts, outdoors, and life skills for young people.

Many young people in Somerville lack quality access to the outdoors.

There are material barriers like gear, transportation, and lodging.

There are societal barriers related to belief systems and culture. One barrier is the notion of the outdoors as a space for serene, quiet, individualism, and another barrier is the idea of the outdoors as an arena to overcome intense physical and emotional discomfort. Both of these can be great ways to enjoy the outdoors with many rewards, but they can also limit who gets to enjoy the outdoors.

There are barriers related to internalized-beliefs. While there are growing opportunities in Somerville for young people to get outside, many of the offerings can feel like ‘once in a lifetime’ trips, and are led by people who are not from the community the young people live in.

We at Creative by Nature aim to be connectors, challengers, and models.

We have connections to partners like the Appalachian Mountain Club and Big City Mountaineers, and run all of our trips at zero cost for participants, which helps us eliminate the barriers of gear, lodging, and transportation. But we also incorporate monetary appreciations to our participants for any overnight trips, which helps alleviate the opportunity cost many young people face. To go on a trip like this they may have to skip shifts of work, or find childcare for a sibling or family member (an estimated 5.4 million youth help care for relatives. *) and we see our monetary appreciation as another step to break down barriers to the outdoors.

We aim to be challengers, by exploring and creating new ways to exist outside that integrate community, expression, and authenticity in the spaces we go.

We act as models. Nabila and Sean both grew up in Somerville, graduated from Somerville High School, and had their first outdoor experiences as participants in groups similar to Creative by Nature. Our goal is to staff our program with as many Somerville community members as possible, and develop and integrate current participants into future programming as they move out of teenagehood. Our goal is to shift belief systems, and make it attainable and normal for young people to share these types of experiences in nature.

*https://generations.asaging.org/youth-caregivers-and-pandemic