 |
 |
|
|
|
In January of 2007 Galería de la Raza launched the first cycle of its onsite after school youth program, the Youth Media Project at Galería new state-of-the art Media Lab. High School youth attending John O'Connell High School, Hill Top School and TAPP (Teen Age Pregnancy and Parenting) participated in the program.
The Spring program included weekly classes and workshops entitled, Youth Riots, which was aimed at introducing the youth to the politics, history and imagery of social movements throughout the world, while training them in the basics of new media design programs such as ©Adobe Photoshop, ©Adobe Illustrator, and I-Movie©. A second course, led by Ana C. Fletes, introduced students to a web-based multi-media class, where the young students learned the basics of digital storytelling.
Youth Riots was conducted by professional artists Julio César Morales and John Leaños. Students were introduced to the history of social movements such as the Chicano Civil Rights movement, the Native American movement, and various Anti-War Movements. Classes focused on discovering and analyzing the images and slogans of each movement and the means by which individuals transferred ideas into visual narratives that would later form the iconography of a cultural movement.
While studying a variety of movements and the imagery that supported them, students were urged to create their own political narratives drawing from their surrounding Mission neighborhood and current political discussions.
The images on display in Studio 24 offer a glimpse into the lessons learned in Youth Riots. Works showcase both individuality and shared commonality between the students, each asserting their cultural identity through an understanding of larger political movements and their own individual place in history. The works dealt with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, anti-immigrant sentiments and the politics of graffiti —all concepts that students felt a need to approach.
The Youth Media Project is funded by the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, the California Arts Council/Artists in Schools Program, a state agency, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Bernard Osher Foundation, The Miranda Lux Foundation, the San Francisco Foundation, the van Löben Sels/Rembe Rock Foundation, and the Adobe Foundation Fund at Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
| |
|
|
