9/13/2017
The interplay of socio-political change and creative expression was the focus of New Orleans: Music, Culture and Civil Rights, two week-long workshops hosted this past summer by Music Rising at Tulane, a program of the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South. The Center received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshops for School Teachers program to offer the workshops and stipends for all participants.
Over 30 artists and scholars led site-visits, lectures, and performances, creating a week of inspiring experiences that built camaraderie among educators and community members. The workshops provided methods and resources for teachers to incorporate the intricate history of race relations and music into their daily curricula.
The first week was offered for New Orleans-based teachers, forging relationships that will continue with local follow-up this year. Teachers from all over the country came for week two. “Studying the sustained efforts of people who have fought for social change through their art, passion and intellect was important to me,” said April Crandall, who teaches in a juvenile detention center in Minden, Nevada. “I am ready to re-enter my classroom with the belief that we can cause community transformation and positive change.”
“Teachers are hungry to learn from New Orleans, a landmark city in global narratives of justice and music, and to receive and contribute methods for talking about race and social change in their classrooms,” says Rebecca Snedeker, Clark Executive Director of the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South. “Workshop Co-Directors Sonya Robinson and Bruce Sunpie Barnes were phenomenal leaders, holding space for all that emerged. It was transformative for all of us.” Snedeker is hopeful that Music Rising at Tulane will receive the support needed to provide these summer workshops again, and to create others like them for teachers and residents of the Gulf South.