As I reflect on Martin Luther King Day, it would be negligent for me not to consider the impact that Dr. King has had on my thinking and the work that I do with Freedom Arts.  Many of the things he said and did have given me guidance and inspiration. Dr. King once said “human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.” Well, I’ve been called creative. I’ve also been called maladjusted (believe it or not!). But I’m not trying to save anybody.  I’m only following the path that God has clearly laid before me. Let me tell you a little bit about that…

Since high school, I knew that I wanted my career to be in music. But early into my professional life, our nation’s economy negatively affected my career as it did for so many of us. The graphic design shop at which I worked – my part-time, steady, non-music job – shut down. Performances started paying less and many of my fellow musicians were jumping ship and pursuing other jobs. I was losing music students because their parents had to make tough financial decisions within their own families. I can recall many conversations I had to have with moms and dads about having to pull their kids out of lessons because they couldn’t afford it anymore. I hated that. Something needed to change and somebody needed to change it.

 
God called me to be proactive and create opportunities. Freedom Arts & Education Center was born in my heart and mind as a school of the arts. I shared this vision with my intelligent and supportive wife Beth. She is my high school sweetheart and has always been my biggest fan and trusted me through all the crazy schemes I have devised. With Beth’s support, I shared this vision with a handful of my friends and colleagues. They shared my excitement. Just as there are three sections of our logo, there are three sub-missions which guide Freedom Arts. The original mission was created from the need to provide arts education to children and to offer teaching opportunities for all the gifted artists I know. 
 
It is through my relationships with Corey Williams and Megan Vega that the mission became more than just teaching the arts.  I remember leaning over to my close friend and musical collaborator Corey Williams and telling him about my idea at a gig one night. I’ll never forget his words: “A school of the arts? Man, I know so many kids that can write rhymes, but can barely read.” This conversation ignited the flame that would become our second sub-mission.  Corey’s response helped me understand that even the strongest artistic skill can only take a young person so far.
 
The third sub-mission of Freedom Arts was derived from Megan Vega’s aspirations and talents.  Megan and I got to know each other through church around the same time she graduated from Lindenwood University with her BA in Dance.  I quickly learned of her desire to combine the arts with Christian ministry. Megan believed that academic and artistic skills mean little if there are fundamental ways in which a young person is underserved. We have to consider their physiological needs. We have to consider their safety and their need to belong. We have to consider their hearts and what is missing from their lives. Another quote I love by Dr. King is, "Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education." I knew we had to share Christ with these kids and help them develop good character traits if the arts and academics were to have any meaning.
 
In 2012, Corey, Megan, and I formed our Leadership Team with Beth and my life-long best friend and brother Miles Dela Cruz. We embarked on a mission to help young people become the highly creative, literate, passionate, independent thinkers they are capable of becoming. We developed a program which provides arts education, academic tutoring, mentoring and leadership training to underserved youth of our city. We set out to inspire youth to realize and utilize their God-given talents and worth. The blessings started pouring in. Artists and educators were eager to join our mission. Clayton Community Church agreed to let us use the building to host events. With no major grants or donations, we are able to fund our mission by providing workshops on a mobile basis to organizations throughout the metropolitan region. In 2013, we were blessed to add the devoted and diligent Elisa Doty as our Community Outreach Advocate as well as the energetic and experienced Jonathan Walz as our Development Director.
 
Another one of my favorite Dr. King quotes is “Let us keep moving with the faith that what we are doing is right, and with the even greater faith that God is with us in the struggle.” God is clearly blessing our mission and letting us know that we are doing good, right work. He gives us so many freedoms to pursue what we love and to learn as much as we want. But we are called to use this freedom to serve one another. Freedom means nothing if we don’t use it to enrich the lives of others and improve our world.

Andrew Gibson
Freedom Arts and Education Center, Executive Director