YI Summer: the Keith Haring Foundation
Jul 22, 2014

On July 22, Youth Insights Summer Intensive participants headed to NoHo to visit the Keith Haring Foundation. Started by Keith Haring himself in 1989, the foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting AIDS-related and children’s charities. It also maintains the largest archive on the artist. I was especially excited to see his work since he is one of my favorite artists. 

First we watched a thirty-minute film on Keith Haring’s life. We learned about how he loved helping children and how he made his artwork accessible through the Pop Shop. By watching interviews with the artist and those who knew him, we gained more knowledge about Haring’s life. For example, he painted a mural on the Berlin Wall even though it was considered trespassing,and he asked a group of children to help him on a project to celebrate the Statue of Liberty’s centennial. 

After the film, we talked more about Haring and the role of the Foundation, and we saw a few of Haring’s journals. Being able to see the artist’s personal entries was truly amazing and surreal. Then we were in for another treat! Luckily for us, the Foundation had received extra sweaters and t-shirts and we were each able to pick one. 

The best part of this event was being able to learn more about Haring and realizing how passionate he was about his art and helping others. Now, every time I drive by 125th Street and see his “Crack is Wack” mural, I won’t just see a cool mural, but I’ll know how passionate and determined Haring was about helping others through art. 

By Stacey, YI Summer Participant