Current Happenings
2011 Updates:
Parks in Focus
Parks in Focus, a federal program based at the Morris K. Udall Foundation in Tucson, connects underserved youth to nature through photography. I have been working with Parks in Focus to develop new curricular strategies and to deepen and expand their impact locally and nationally. Since I have a deep passion for nature, photography and youth this has been an exciting opportunity for me.
Story of 05: Youth Voices
In partnership with the Arizona Center for the Study of Children & Families, I have been collaborating with the Creative Photography Group, a photography program for foster youth through La Paloma Services in Tucson. The youth are documenting what they like and want to change about their community located in 85705, an area code known for its high rates of crime, poverty and CPS referrals, as well as prostitution and drug use. The goal is for the photos taken by the youth to inform the larger community and to feed into a zip code wide planning process to identify assets and opportunities for improvement.
Youth In Action Media-Smart Project: Communities Putting Prevention to Work
I have been working with the United Way of Tucson to undertake a media literacy and photovoice project around issues of obesity prevention and nutrition. We have offered train-the-trainer workshops with youth development providers in Pima County to help them incorporate media literacy and youth photography into their programming as a path towards promoting healthy living. Ultimately, the youth will use their photographs to advocate for health-related policy changes and to undertake action projects to address heath issues in their programs, schools and neighborhoods.
Finding Voice Project: Heroes & Community Change
Thanks to support from the Tucson Pima Arts Council, Target, Kids International Neighborhoods, and Kresge Foundation, for a fifth year I have continued working with refugee and immigrant students in ESL classes with teacher Julie Kasper at Catalina Magnet High School. During the first semester of 2010-2011 school year the students examined through writing, research and photography their “heroes” and what it means to be a hero. During the second semester the youth have focused on applying their skills by building partnerships and undertaking community action projects. The youth are collaborating with the International Rescue Committee to create a forum for youth refugee dialogue to address the needs of refugee youth city-wide, with the University of Arizona’s Drachman Institute to create a plan to redesign our high school campus, and with Imagine Greater Tucson to engage youth and families in a regional visioning process. Throughout these efforts they will be using their photography to identify what they like and want to change about their communities. To learn more about the Finding Voice Project visit: www.findingvoiceproject.org.
Southeastern AZ Arts in Academics Residencies
I continue to work as a teaching artist through the Southeastern Arizona Arts in Academics (SAAA) Program. SAAA focuses on providing arts opportunities to elementary, middle school and high school students in rural southeastern Arizona. Throughout 2010-2011, I have been conducting photography residencies in the rural communities of Ask Creek, Wilcox, Ft. Thomas, and the San Carlos Apache Reservation.
2010 Updates:
PhotoPhilanthropy 2010 Activist Award
In November 2010 I was kindly recognized for my work with teacher Julie Kasper in creating the Finding Voice Project with refugee and immigrant youth in Tucson. We received PhotoPhilanthropy’s 2010 Grand Prize Activist Award for Community-Based Organizations. PhotoPhilanthropy’s mission is “to promote and connect photographers with nonprofit organizations around the world to tell the stories that drive action for social change.” As a result of this award, Finding Voice was featured in a PhotoPhilanthropy book and in an exhibit at the World Affairs Council in San Francisco in March 2011.
CommunityMatters Conference Presentation
In October 2010 I attended the Orton Family Foundation’s annual CommunityMatters conference and presented on a panel about building community through storytelling. It was an inspiring gathering, as I had the opportunity to meet entrepreneurial folks working on projects ranging from hiring youth to convert restaurant grease to biodiesel to creating new ways to strengthen intergenerational connections in communities.
Sabores Sin Fronteras
I have been exploring food traditions and food systems in the the US/Mexico border region in collaboration with writer Kimi Eisele, author Gary Nabhan and ethnographer Maribel Alvarez at the University of Arizona’s Southwest Center. We decided to focus our efforts on ranching along the border and the relationship between beef production and climate change. Kimi and I began this process by photographing and interviewing Duncan Blair, a rancher trying to reduce his operation’s carbon footprint, while navigating the socio-political realities of border life. The photographs and interviews were exhibited at Tucson Meet Yourself, an annual fall event attended by nearly 100,000 people. You can learn more about Sabores Sin Fronteras at www.saboresfronteras.com.
Place & Context: University of Arizona Course
Throughout the spring and summer of 2010, Kimi Eisele and I were hired by the University of Arizona’s Honors College to design a course about “place.” We were asked to explore a new model for the Honor’s College, by having a series of professors and community members provide the primary content for the class through lectures, readings, field assignments, and fieldtrips. Over 35 professors and community members agreed to present on topics about place ranging from water harvesting to immigration to oral history to city planning. During the fall 2010 semester nearly 70 honors’ students signed up for the course. It has been exciting to see how the expertise in a community and academic environment can come together to enrich the educational experiences of college students.
“The Way We See It” Youth Photography Exhibition, Washington, D.C.
During the spring and summer of 2010, I collaborated with the Academy for Educational Development to create a group youth photography exhibition at AED’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. In addition to exhibiting youth work from India and the Finding Voice Project, AED exhibited images from two other inspiring programs, Critical Exposure and Visual Griots.
Arts Education Partnership Conference Presentation
In April 2010 I was invited by the Arizona Commission on the Arts to join a panel of artists and art administrators to discuss the topic of “Leveraging Technology for Advancing the Arts” at the Arts Education Partnership conference. I discussed the benefits and challenges of incorporating technology into community-based media and literacy projects.
Adaptations: Stories of Change
From January-March 2010 I collaborated with the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum on a project with refugee and immigrant youth about stories of change and adaptation. Youth from Tucson’s Owl & Panther Project, Amphitheater High School and Catalina Magnet High School participated in a series of photography and writing workshops that encouraged them to explore their own personal stories of change while simultaneously exploring how change and adaptation transpires in their new home – the Sonoran Desert.
2009 Updates:
Finding Voice Project
I continued working with refugee and immigrant students in ESL classes with teacher Julie Kasper at Catalina Magnet High School. This school year we are working with two classes of excited students exploring and sharing their voices around the theme of “Building a Stronger Community.” The students are producing digital stories and other pieces about issues ranging from discrimination to changing ESL policies in Arizona. They will share their work at a community presentation at 6:30pm on May 14th at Catalina Magnet High School. From October 16-November 13, 2009 we exhibited student work from the past three years of the Finding Voice Project at the Union Gallery in the Student Union of the University of Arizona. The photograph on this page is one of many student images we exhibited. To see additional photos and learn more about the Finding Voice Project visit: www.findingvoiceproject.org. In connection with the exhibit, I joined a panel of local art organizations and art educators to discuss “Voice & Identity – Issues of Representation in Visual and Literary Art.”
Southeastern AZ Arts in Academics Artist Residencies
From October 2009-March 2010 I was working as a teaching artist through the Southeastern Arizona Arts in Academics (SAAA) Program. SAAA focuses on providing arts opportunities to elementary, middle school and high school students in rural southeastern Arizona. Over a five month period I co-facilitated photography and visual storytelling workshops on the San Carlos Apache, Pascua Yaqui and Tohono O’odham Reservations with drama teacher Alida Wilson Gunn of Borderlands Theater. The words and images produced by the youth throughout the project were incorporated into a theater performance in March 2010. I also worked with writer Kimi Eisele and we facilitated a community arts workshop at Mt. Turnbull Academy with high school students on the San Carlos Apache Reservation. Students interviewed and made portraits of each other and then did the same with community leaders and elders. Excerpts from the interviews and portraits were then turned into large posters that have been touring the San Carlos Apache Reservation.
Arizona Teaching Artist Award
In December 2009 I was notified by the Arizona Commission on the Arts that a national arts panel awarded me the inaugural Arizona Teaching Artist Award for “outstanding achievements, innovation and leadership in the field of arts learning.” The award was given in recognition of my work with the Finding Voice Project in Tucson. I am truly honored and humbled by the award and am excited to apply the award monies to a variety of community art projects that have been marinating in my mind.
Literacy Extravaganza Conference, University of Arizona College of Education
On November 14 my colleague Julie Kasper and I presented at the annual Literacy Extravaganza Conference for middle and high school teachers in the Tucson region. It is an opportunity to highlight instructional practices in all disciplines that support literacy learning. Julie and I offered a two hour workshop entitled: Visual Arts & Literacy: The Finding Voice Project.
University of Arizona’s African Student Association Banquet
On November 14 I gave a presentation on “Creating Social Change Through Community-Based Storytelling” at the annual banquet dinner of the African Student Association at the University of Arizona. This year’s banquet was dedicated to paying tribute to the children of Africa and their voices .