Georgia: Preventing Youth Exploitation

Through Wellspring Living programs, sex trafficking survivors and those at risk are provided the opportunity to live and dream again. Photo courtesy Wellspring Living

The Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA) has partnered with the Georgia Attorney General’s Office, the Georgia Department of Education, Wellspring Living and Street Grace to use theatre arts as an educational vehicle for prevention of the sexual exploitation of minors. The partners have joined forces to offer a $10,000 contract for the creation of a script for a one-act play to raise awareness of domestic commercial sex exploitation of minors. In 2018, an alarming 91% of victims of domestic sex exploitation in Georgia were still in school while they were being trafficked. This initiative is grounded in GCA’s belief in the arts as a potent driver to tackle challenging content with audiences of all ages.

The commissioned playwright/arts organization will have 12 months to develop and workshop content geared toward a late middle school/high school audience. The focus of the content will be on the psychological manipulation involved in child exploitation and will delve into the deeper questions of what danger looks like and what safety looks like. Each production of the play will be followed by a Q&A with professionals working in the field that will include information on available resources, both within the school and within the local community. The play must have a cast of no more than four, be able to be produced with a simple set that can be easily transported and have basic technical requirements. This GCA project is supported by funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more, contact GCA Executive Director Karen Paty.