Fiona Dornberger- The Roof is on Fire

1. CONTEXT:

Voices of Inner city teenagers are never able to be heard, and with the media only portraying them badly, this was a chance for them to share their voices.

2. CONTENT:

Minorities are mostly addressed in media are as villains, or bad characters, and on the news, are usually associated with crime and murder, especially relating to black bodies.

3: FORM:

Students sat inside cars, and held discussions based on prompts, so that the audience could lean in and listen.

4. STAKEHOLDERS:

Oakland Teenagers were the primary focus of the groups, as well as teachers from their schools and Suzanne Lacy, the project curator. Money for the project was raised from donations.

5. AUDIENCE:

The project was for all of the U.S., and they put in many hours of work to make sure it would be televised.

6. ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES:

The audience was engaged because they really had to eves-drop on the conversations, sometimes needing to lean into the cars.

7. GOAL:

The objective was to help the voices and wishes of these teenagers be heard, so that the world could understand their predicaments and struggles.

8. VALUES:

The core beliefs of this program were that teenagers are not inherently bad at all. In fact, they have the potential to do great good for society. It is society and the media, which portrays them negatively, trying to keep them from trying to rise to their full potentials, and prevent them from achieving greatness.

9. RESOURCES:

Interviews with students, the students choosing which topics they felt resonated with them, and the fact that the only voices heard during the project were those of the teens.

10: OUTCOMES:

The project was aired on live TV, and the teenagers were able to have their voices heard for the evening. As to the long-term impact of the project, it was left open ended, as were the lives of the teens who had participated in it. I wonder if the project went on to do more?

Comments

Jeremy Griffith - The Roof is on Fire

1. CONTEXT: What were the circumstances that framed the meaning and process of this project? There are many minority teens in low-income, low-opportunity areas who have unheard voices. Their self-esteem isn't cultivated and all of their portrayal in the media is negative. 2. CONTENT: What was the issue, need, idea or opportunity addressed by this project? Teen voices were unheard, opinions of them were based on negative media stereotypes, and many of them had very poor self-esteem. 3: FORM: What is the medium that was used to address or embody the content? Immersive theatre in the form of car-conversations that audience members could eavesdrop on. 4. STAKEHOLDERS: Which are the groups or individuals that were invested in the project? The teenagers were very invested because of their desire to free their voices. The adults who helped were invested because they wanted to help these kids start to change the narrative. And the d...

Geneva Heron Assignments

Assignment: Aesthetic Evangelists - Due 1/30 Three key ideas in the text that resonate with me: The first is the idea of the "new public art," or what we would call "community engaged art." The article discusses the transition from art displayed in public sites to community based projects that have the goal of collaboration and focus more on the process than the end result/outcome. This intrigues me because before this class I was honestly very unaware of this form of art-making and its growing prevalence. Another idea that resonates with me is when the author talked about community based public art of today drawing on the urban reform rhetoric of the past both consciously and subconsciously. This stood out because it's an old adage that history repeats itself and I think it's interesting that the times we live in now call for a callback to this type of work and a more curious examination of what this can do for people and their communities. Th...

Arts and Community Engagement 2018

Search This Blog