Art Intersections

Print HTML

Vital Stats

Jennifer S

Berkeley, CA
  • people helped50
  • People Doing It25

The Problem

Following Hurricane Katrina, UC Berkeley created The Magnolia Project, a branch of the Cal Corps Public Service Center that focuses specifically on social justice in the Gulf Coast. Three years ago, Magnolia Project established a partnership with Young Aspirations/ Young Artists (YAYA), a New Orleans-based nonprofit arts education organization, by developing an annual summer internship for UC Berkeley students to volunteer in New Orleans. This project intends to mediate the lack of reciprocal opportunities for travel, sharing of narratives, and new experiences by turning the relationship between UC Berkeley's Magnolia Project and YAYA into an annual exchange program that allows three high school-aged YAYA artists to have a month-long internship in the Bay Area.

Plan of Action

Three high school-aged artists who are part of YAYA's art apprenticeship program will be selected for a one-month summer internship in the Bay Area, during which they will work closely with both UC Berkeley students and CoachArt, a nonprofit organization that provides art lessons to children in the Bay Area living with chronic illnesses. Activities include facilitating a weekly workshop for 10-15 CoachArt participants and collaborating with a UC Berkeley summer school art class to create an on-campus mural that commemorates the longstanding relationship between Magnolia Project and organizations in the Gulf Coast. Just as the summer internship in New Orleans exists as an annual opportunity, this is intended to be the first of many annual trips for YAYA artists. The mural will incorporate elements of the New Orleans culture as experienced by the participating YAYA artists and will be located on a wall of a publicly accessible courtyard on the UC Berkeley campus, which is viewed by thousands of students on a daily basis. The artists will also have the opportunity to explore several art colleges located in the Bay Area, including California College of the Arts, the UC Berkeley art department, and the San Francisco Art Institute.
Go
Arts in Education

Related Stuff