“At Home in the Desert: Youth Engagement and Place,” is three inter-related performance projects that involve young people in artmaking about their desert home. The project is a partnership between the ASU Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (HIDA) Public Practice Initiative, The Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Phoenix (BGCMP),Girl Scouts—Arizona Cactus-Pine Council, and South Mountain High School.  The project began with a generous seed grant from the ASU Institute for Humanities Research as a collaboration between Elizabeth Johnson (HIDA coordinator of public practice in the arts), Melissa Britt (ASU School of Dance), Mary Fitzgerald (ASU School of Dance), Susan Griffin (South Mountain High School), Richard Mook (ASU School of Music), Tomas Stanton (performer and social activist), and Stephani Woodson (ASU School of Theatre and Film). Linda Essig (ASU School of Theatre and Film) assists with program evaluation.

Support from the National Endowment for the Arts enables the project to continue to engage young people in artmaking about their desert home through December 2012.