Three times a year, WWBI designs and facilitates arts and digital media-based workshops for young women, aged 12-18, participating in Lexington County Juvenile Arbitration. The Juvenile Arbitration program is a diversion program that aims to keep youth out of the formal justice system by issuing community-based sanctions, such as the arts and media-based workshop. Our workshops use art to promote engagement with and discussion of everyday issues faced by young people. Frequently discussed topics include relationship violence, peer pressure, drug abuse, and body image. The curriculum for each workshop is developed by an interdisciplinary team of UofSC graduate students, faculty, undergraduate interns, and volunteers. 

Dr. Olga Ivashkevich is an UofSC Associate Professor of Art Education and a Women’s and Gender Studies Department Affiliate. She is the current director of WWBI and oversees the Arts and Digital Media Workshops.