Two decades ago, Robert Miley was an advertising executive and a part-time artist working on an original piece for a client in Guam.
“I like to say I grew up in Guam,” the 46-year-old said before the opening of the “Release the Fear” art studio on Monroe Street in downtown Phoenix last week.
It was in Guam where Miley got involved with the Sanctuary shelter for runaway children, which inspired him to found a grassroots organization to encourage self-awareness, he said.
Release the Fear, which Miley founded in 1996, is an educational and community awareness program through which Miley uses three-day art workshops to teach local youth and community members alternative solutions to violence, communication, self-awareness and self-esteem.
Release the Fear lists its mission as “to counter the effects of violence in our communities by turning fear, anger and hate into acceptance and hope by bridging endless possibilities through the creative process.”
“Fear blocks the cerebral cortex, which is the bridge between the right and left sides of the brain,” Miley said. “So by releasing the fear, we enable whole-brain thinking, and that opens up perception.”
At the end of the workshop, the groups of 25 to 30 teenagers create one collaborative painting.
“It’s a metaphor for what we can do together,” Miley said.
The new studio will showcase and sell these masterpieces to fund more workshops, Miley said.
The intention was not to sell the products of his workshops, but all the kids said they wanted to raise money so more kids could experience the program, Miley said.
“The program gave me new eyes — eyes that allowed me to see the world in a different way,” said workshop attendee and alumna only identified as Makayla in an open letter.
“I began to imagine a person I might be. If I had not taken the Release the Fear workshop, I would be in jail today, or worse. Instead, I just graduated with my bachelor’s degree in science.”
Makayla is one of 3,000 young people to cross paths with Release the Fear since 1996, and most of them said in postworkshop surveys that they made new discoveries and improved their self-awareness, Miley said.
Workshop activities include breathing, mirror self-esteem exercises, group discussions and games that encourage active communication.
“We try to get them to open up to who they are and all they can be,” Miley said. “It’s like taking a snow globe, shaking it up and seeing how everything lands.”
The program’s touchstone sculpture, revealed in 2005, shows a 24-foot human figure rising with outstretched arms from a base of four tons of melted weapons used in violent crimes.
It is located at the corner of Central Avenue and Roosevelt Road in Phoenix and was created with donations and grants from a variety of donors.
“When you stand that way, you open up your heart,” Miley said of the figure, which is also the project’s logo.
Ultimately, Release the Fear hopes to reduce the recidivism rate and alter the paths of at-risk youth, and Miley said it seems to be working.
“I believe there are two things in life — love and fear,” Miley said. “And if you have too much of one, you can’t have much of the other.”
Reach the reporter at melanie.kiser@asu.edu.
