Ava's Smile

10/07/2025

Poets Shine - https://mailchi.mp/ed9bf966f2c6/poets-shine

As summer has ended and fall has arrived, we hope this email finds you well.

The spring partnership between Ava’s Smile and Uptown Stories was a great success — no real surprise as the Snobby Poetry workshop was taught by the amazing teaching artist, Jane LeCroy.

The spring partnership between Ava’s Smile and Uptown Stories was a great success — no real surprise as the Snobby Poetry workshop was taught by the amazing teaching artist, Jane LeCroy.

04/15/2025

On the heels of spring - https://mailchi.mp/8f63407d50cb/on-the-heels-of-spring
Though Ava's Tree is not yet in bloom as shown in this photo from a previous year, spring is just about here and we're anticipating its leaves and flowers.

In the meantime, we're jumping into spring with another collaboration with Uptown Stories for an exciting poetry workshop. Students in the Snobby Poetry workshop are 13-18 years old and the workshop is being taught once again by the amazing Jane LeCroy.

Ava’s Smile is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of Ava’s Smile must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

11/14/2024

Wordplay - https://mailchi.mp/5dcf32a0a142/wordplay
In the spring, Ava's Smile joined once again with Uptown Stories for a fantastic Advanced Fiction workshop taught by the talented teaching artist Stacy Davidowitz.

Ava's poem, Wordplay, was used as a creative prompt. The lines of the poem were broken up and distributed to different students who imagined the words as their own and then wrote the next line.

One foot on the ground   Your body was tilted  Your balance You lost And hit the cold, hard ground You waited patiently for someone to help you up But no one did.

04/11/2024

Moving into Spring - https://mailchi.mp/7ec0550a8127/moving-into-spring

We're thrilled to report that your support has made it possible for us to partner once again with Uptown Stories—this time for an Advanced Fiction workshop taught by teaching artist, Stacy Davidowitz. The workshop has just started and we are looking forward to updates about the wonderful work we're sure the students will be creating.

Ava’s Smile is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of Ava’s Smile must be made payable to Fractured Atlas only and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

07/14/2022

What have we been up to, you ask?

We partnered once again with Uptown Stories for a spring workshop under the wonderful tutelage of teaching artist Josh Bayer. Pow! Drawing and Writing Comics returned to in-person classes with precautions, as you can see from the photo. The students did amazing work and the workshop was a success!

We once again partnered with Upton Stories to offer Pow! Drawing and Writing Comics, a spring workshop under the wonderful tutelage of teaching artist Josh Bayer. The students did amazing work and the workshop was a big success! Thanks to your generosity, it will be possible for Ava's Smile to partn...

11/23/2021

The Super Awesome Adventures of Ava's Smile

Ava's Smile partnered with Uptown Stories to offer students a superhero comics workshop—a collaboration we know Ava (and her superhero, Soprano Man) would approve of.

As we prepare for Thanksgiving and take stock of what we are thankful for, you are definitely on our list. Thanks to your support, this past spring, Ava’s Smile continued to honor Ava and her legacy as we partnered with Uptown Stories for a comics workshop called “Hero’s Journey." With incre...

12/22/2020

During these difficult months, we were enormously impressed that Uptown Stories, who we have partnered with more than once, was able to maneuver through the demands of the pandemic to make a shift to virtual workshops. The need for such creative outlets for youth is even greater these days owing to the added stress for both students and their families.

04/19/2020

We are deeply saddened as we watch the staggering effects of the coronavirus here in NYC, in our country and around the world. Each and everyone of you are in our thoughts during these very difficult times and we hope you and your loved ones are all well.

Stay safe! We look forward to sharing brighter days ahead with you.
https://mailchi.mp/d870d8cfb81b/during-these-difficult-times

12/27/2019

Ava's Smile was a dream we had to honor and remember Ava in a way that would continue to allow her inspiration to live on. Your past support and generosity have helped make that dream a reality and we thank you.

As we get ready to bid 2019 farewell, we hope you will consider an end-of-the-year contribution to keep Ava's Smile strong.

Ava’s Smile was created in memory of 17-year-old visual artist and poet Ava Hecht. Dedicated to honoring Ava’s legacy of creativity and compassion, Ava’s Smile offers creative arts workshops for young people in order to enrich their lives and to help them reach their full potential.

09/13/2019

POW! — https://mailchi.mp/2914b52ce741/pow

Ava's Smile was thrilled to partner with Uptown Stories this summer to help bring the workshop "POW! Writing and Drawing Comics" to 16 very enthusiastic youngsters. The workshop was taught by visual artist Josh Bayer, whose graphic novel Theth was featured in the The Best American Comics 2015.

03/21/2019

As 2019 is moving along, we are happy to share with you how Ava's Smile started the year. Once again we were thrilled to partner with the Cooper Union Art Outreach Program. Graphic designer Tida Tep and visual artist Pablo Diaz guided the students as they worked to give conceptual ideas a life through collage while artist Wendy Qi taught the students basic HTML to add to the dynamic nature of their artwork.

Stay tuned for more information on our next project with Uptown Stories. —