Not JUST Education: An examination of the role of arts and media in a just education

Posted by on March 24, 2014

Not JUST Education:
An examination of the role of arts and media in a just education – part 1

Monday, March 31, 2014, 5 pm: Arcadia University – Grey Towers Castle, Mirror Room

This meeting of scholars and activists facilitated by Tracy Broyles of Philadelphia’s Spiral Q focuses on the development of strategies for scholars and activists to come together around issues of education in the broader society. How do we find our common voices? Where are there spaces for action and change? We will consider not just schools, but the multiple worlds of learning, community-building, and social action.

Not JUST Education:
An examination of the role of arts and media in a just education – part 2

Wednesday, April 2, 2014, 7:30 pm: Arcadia University – Commons, Great Room

This meeting of scholars and activists facilitated by Tracy Broyles of Philadelphia’s Spiral Q focuses on the current scene of youth media in Philadelphia and its relationship to the various communities of school and neighborhood. The goals of youth empowerment and community development share with educational reform and its critics the need for conversations and actions.

Philadelphia’s Spiral Q lives at the intersection of arts and social justice. Established in 1996, Spiral Q uses popular arts (parades, print, pageantry, puppets) to build an urban arts democracy rooted in principles of accessibility, inclusion, self-determination, collaboration, sustainability, and life long learning. Spiral Q works with reclaimed and recycled materials, teaches in schools and community organizations throughout the city, leads collaborative planning of giant public art projects, and supports creative community organizing. Spiral Q’s work is nationally recognized for its originality, its capacity to inspire individuals of all ages and backgrounds, and its ability to creatively revitalize communities throughout Philadelphia.
The organization has been honored with the 2010 George Bartol Arts Education Award from the Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation, three consecutive years of highly competitive funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Philadelphia Foundation’s Good Governance Award in 2006, the Peace Award from the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in 2002, and the Bread and Roses Community Fund’s Community Empowerment Award in 2001. The organization was also voted Philly’s Best of 2008 with Casino Free Philly in City Paper’s annual Philly Madness contest. In testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee in 2010 regarding funding for arts and culture, Mayor Michael Nutter cited Spiral Q as a prime example of the “highly regarded and successful” art organizations that form an important part of Philadelphia’s economy.

For more information on Spiral Q, visit http://spiralq.org.

No RSVPs necessary.