EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE UPDATE
Community Service Learning (CSL) initiative
In the summer of 2022 we launched The Community Service Learning (CSL) initiative which introduces youth and young adults ages 16-24 from the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) to community service and mobile media skills by fostering community engagement and documentary research opportunities. Throughout the six-week employment phase, participants were taught the skills and techniques of documentary filmmaking, graphic design, public speaking and community engagement.
Through the following four components, the CSL initiative fostered dialogue among youth and young adults around collaborative solutions to the critical issue of violence in our city and nation. They unpacked their perspectives on public safety, and identified resources, tools, or skills they felt are needed for youth and young adults to protect themselves from law enforcement and the legal system and be able to thrive in life.
In the summer of 2022 we launched The Community Service Learning (CSL) initiative which introduces youth and young adults ages 16-24 from the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) to community service and mobile media skills by fostering community engagement and documentary research opportunities. Throughout the six-week employment phase, participants were taught the skills and techniques of documentary filmmaking, graphic design, public speaking and community engagement.
Through the following four components, the CSL initiative fostered dialogue among youth and young adults around collaborative solutions to the critical issue of violence in our city and nation. They unpacked their perspectives on public safety, and identified resources, tools, or skills they felt are needed for youth and young adults to protect themselves from law enforcement and the legal system and be able to thrive in life.
Self-affirmation Poem: This multidisciplinary creative writing, public, speaking, and media exercise, offered young people the opportunity and platform to express how they felt about themselves, their goals and their personal strengths.
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You May Think: this media project asked youth and Young adults to explore and express common misperceptions and misconceptions that they have experienced in their lives. Young people, highlighted, that they were commonly misperceived and shared those misperceptions through visual artistry and creative writing.
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Dear Parents: In this media project, youth and young adults each wrote letters to their parents, explaining what their perspectives were regarding the way they were being raised and treated as young adults. This project offers a lens into the thought process of young adults in challenging in-home domestic situations.
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Strategic Arts & Education (SAE) initiative
In September 2022 The Confined Arts was awarded a grant from The Ford Foundation d in partnership with Another Choice Youth and Family Outreach, Inc. the Strategic Arts & Education (SAE) initiative. The goal of the SAE is to provide free artistic literacy, professional development, and capacity-building to new as well as existing community-based artists, students, and advocates including justice-impacted people. The SAE also works to engage participants in utilizing the arts as a means to mitigate the imprint of the criminal legal system.
In September 2022 The Confined Arts was awarded a grant from The Ford Foundation d in partnership with Another Choice Youth and Family Outreach, Inc. the Strategic Arts & Education (SAE) initiative. The goal of the SAE is to provide free artistic literacy, professional development, and capacity-building to new as well as existing community-based artists, students, and advocates including justice-impacted people. The SAE also works to engage participants in utilizing the arts as a means to mitigate the imprint of the criminal legal system.
Youth Action YouthBuild
In January 2023 ACYFO partnered with Youth Action YouthBuild to provide their students with professional development training offered through The Confined Arts. Over the course of the next year, we look forward to providing YouthBuild students with professional development training weekly through 2023.
In January 2023 ACYFO partnered with Youth Action YouthBuild to provide their students with professional development training offered through The Confined Arts. Over the course of the next year, we look forward to providing YouthBuild students with professional development training weekly through 2023.
ADVOCACY PROJECTS
The Claiming the Justice Narrative media and advocacy project
seeks to support recent incursions in the felony court space by furthering alternatives to incarceration policy shifts.
Beginning in the fall of 2021, twenty system-impacted people participated in eight workshops led by teaching artists from four organizations: Recess, Theatre of the Oppressed NYC, Dances for Solidarity, and The Phoenix Players Theatre Group. During these sessions, participants were introduced to various performance techniques in movement, improvisation, and autobiographical storytelling.
seeks to support recent incursions in the felony court space by furthering alternatives to incarceration policy shifts.
Beginning in the fall of 2021, twenty system-impacted people participated in eight workshops led by teaching artists from four organizations: Recess, Theatre of the Oppressed NYC, Dances for Solidarity, and The Phoenix Players Theatre Group. During these sessions, participants were introduced to various performance techniques in movement, improvisation, and autobiographical storytelling.
Nine individuals were available at the conclusion of the workshops to start the process of creating an autobiographical performance piece. Beginning in late January of 2022, participants met in both virtual and hybrid settings once a week, facilitated by AJSC collaborators. Through prompts, storytelling, improvisation, and written submissions, we developed a script that focuses on incarceration and its effects, early trauma, post-release issues, and the personal histories and events that lead to individuals becoming justice impacted.
The resulting short film, Before Time/After Time, takes the audience on a journey through the lives of nine returned citizens. They share with us fragments of their lives before and after incarceration. These fragments explore turning points in the lives of our collaborators, beginning in childhood, that, when viewed from the perspective of the present, create a direct line to the events that lead to system involvement. Other segments of our piece make evident the remorse felt by those who have done harm and the redemption they seek. The piece delves into the challenges of “coming home” and the effort it takes to survive “on the outside.” The piece is a tribute to the resilience, compassion, and generosity of those whose stories make up the devised text. And finally, the piece, and the process that created it, is an example of the kinds of communities that the arts can create at almost any age—communities where self-realization, shared goals and transformation are made possible.
COMMUNITY EVENTS
HARLEM W.O.K.E.
(WISDOM * OPPORTUNITY * KNOWLEDGE * EDUCATION.)
One-day community empowerment conference. Through a one-day hybrid conference we identified and explored community based solutions to offset poverty and community violence in Harlem. This community enhancement symposium featured speakers, live performances, facilitated workshops, and visual art. Our primary goal is to reduce the communities reliance on politicians and lawmakers by centering community-fostered solutions. Discussions Included
SYMPOSIUM ON POVERTY AND GUN VIOLENCE Moderator: Isaac I. Scott, Isaac's QuarterlySpeakers Included: Rev. Brandon J. Smith, Mt Pisgah Baptist Church Jackie Rowe, Harlem Mothers Save
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SYMPOSIUM ON YOUTH AND FAMILY OUTREACH Speakers Include:Rev. Isaac I. Scott, Isaac's QuarterlyRev. Dr. Sanayi Beckles-Canton, Chloe Day School & Wellness CenterDr. Cory Green, H.O.L.L.A! Shatia Harris, Youth and Family Organizer
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SYMPOSIUM ON REENTRY AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT Speaker IncludeK:Rev. Isaac I. Scott, Isaac's QuarterlyIbrahim Rivera, Associate Director of Community Based Programs, Exodus Transitional Communities Alpheaus Marcus, Urban Non-Partisan ClubJason Clark, President of Black Bar Association
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FEATURED EXHIBITIONS
BEYOND THE BARS 2023 Seeding Justice Art Exhibition
curated by The Confined Art
This art exhibit features art in the form of posters including artwork of formerly and currently incarcerated persons around the theme of this year’s conference Seeding Justice. We are grateful to be able to share work from directly impacted artists across the country. Please stop by and experience art working in service of healing, justice and liberation.
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