Everything Under The Sun: Helping Trafficking Survivors Through Arts

Anne Pollock (L), with Mary, collecting donated art materials for the workshops.

Activists do some pretty amazing things! In New York City, a group of them, also artists, got together and formed CROSSING POINT ARTS, an organization that utilizes the arts to help those who have developed PTSD from their experiences of being trafficked here in the US. Trafficking occurs in various labor fields, prostitution, and domestic services, essentially enveloping the preyed-upon individual in a life of slavery. That individual, like many others, is seeking better opportunities than in the home country, but differs in the fact of barely subsisting in the home country.

NYC is unique in that it has a large supply of talented artists in various fields. Crossing Point brings these artists together with the trafficking survivors to help them heal from their experiences. Anne Pollock, Founding Director of this fairly new organization, explained, "These creative outlets provide therapeutic tools to manage difficult emotions and offer a bridge from the traumatized self-concept to an empowered, and stronger sense of being and thriving for survivors. In Crossing Point Arts' workshops, there is an atmosphere of exploration, group coherence, challenge, accomplishment, and fun. Perhaps, most importantly, there is the experience of externalizing the psychic energy of trauma, and reconfiguring its accompanying burden."

Crossing Point has partnered with several local organizations that help traumatized survivors, bringing their art workshop programs right to those organizations. Among them are Polaris Project in Newark, GEMS, WomanKind, EMPOWERGyn, Lifeway Network, and Sanar Institute.

Let's look at a few of the workshop programs. Groove Lounge is all about the beat, the beat of clapping, dancing, and singing calls. The music never fails to bring to the joy and restorative power of this music with a beat. The Visual Arts Workshop addresses the issue of beauty and creativity seeming to sink under the burden of trauma. It's a rediscovery of these senses through drawing, sculpture, photography, and collage. With the support of group strength, participants come to see that beauty and creativity never left, but were pushed to the side when the individual was dealing with trauma. The Recording Project gives back a voice to the participants, many of whom had previously maintained silence about their experiences, through poetry, song lyrics, or even storytelling, that are then formed into songs. The words are repeated back to them in the recordings, giving them the perspective of hearing their own voices, louder and more confident, now able to own what happened to them in a more peaceful and self-accepting way.

One of the fundraising events, which help support the work of Crossing Point.

These are just examples of the variety of workshops available. Some are created with the artistic traditions of other countries and tap into the familiarity that participants have with their own traditions.