This month, UNESCO’s International Commission on the Futures of Education released a paper outlining nine ideas for public action in education in a post-COVID world. The paper acknowledges that the global pandemic has the potential to both demonstrate our connectedness, and negatively impact the most marginalized students. Its emphasis on contextualizing each student’s role in a global community suggests a commitment to arts, culture, and social change in education and youth development. We’d like to hear from you about this! How have you seen the arts and culture impact your communities? How do arts and culture facilitate youth leadership to social change within educational contexts? How do they enhance community understanding?
Read moreToya Lillard: Nuggets of Freedom
Our seventh installment features Toya Lillard, with our host Courtney J. Boddie from the Teaching Artistry with Courtney J. Boddie Podcast, who holds spaces for Black girls, women and gender expansive youth to process how policies, procedures, practices and perceptions have adversely affected them. Lillard’s ultimate mission is to construct braver environments for personal reflection, where individuals share their stories with others in order to secure a sense of liberated community.
Read moreYoung Playwrights for Change 2020: Emily Ge and Shared Ignorance
At the 2020 AATE National Conference, the two winners’ YPC plays were announced, and virtual performances were presented with actors bringing the texts to life. I had a chance to catch up with this year’s Runner-Up Emily Ge about her experience creating her play, Shared Ignorance. The theme for this year’s YPC Program was Take A Stand, encouraging young people to share their stories and perspectives on how they use their voices to change the status quo.
Read moreThe Roles of the Arts during COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown in Nigeria: Music, Nigerian Films, and Visual Arts
As part of its findings, the study shows that the majority of respondents from Nigeria resorted to using different art forms during the lockdown to assuage loneliness, depression, and boredom. These art forms include music, dance aerobics, visual arts expressions such as painting, sculpting, and ceramics. Simultaneously, the majority relied on the Nigerian film industry known as Nollywood for its cross-cultural heritage and entertainment transmissions.
Read moreBringing You in the Space
Our sixth installment features Quanice G. Floyd, with our host Courtney J. Boddie from the Teaching Artistry with Courtney J. Boddie Podcast, who challenges individuals to look beyond anti-racism as just a lens, because people’s lives are at stake. Floyd fights inside and outside the classroom to secure an arts curriculum for every student, especially for Black and Brown students that continually experience hardship as the system displays a lack of compassion.
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