Creative Justice Youth Symposium
Date(s): Thursday through Friday, June 17 - 18, 2021
Location: Online
Type(s): Community Event, Open Mic, Panel, Reading, Workshop
Genre and Form(s): Community, Human Rights, Poetry, Social Justice
Cost: Free
About this Event
As the world awakens to injustice, we must all work together to build a strong foundation on which to rebuild a more just world. The Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University is proud to sponsor the second annual Creative Justice Youth Symposium, Thursday through Friday, June 17 - 18, 2021 on Zoom. Each day will consist of a workshop and community open mic.
The symposium will center on creative writing as a skill for resilience and community building through workshops, panels, and community open mics. The symposium is open to youth ages 13 - 24.
Please note: while this event is free and open to the public, you must register through Eventbrite to receive the Zoom link. Space is first-come, first-served. Attendance will be capped at 30 guests in order to allow everyone the opportunity to speak. Registrations do not guarantee or reserve seats. The Zoom link for each workshop can be found in the online event page. If you have any questions or require different forms of access, please reach out to Angie Dell at amdell@asu.edu.
Please register for each workshop you wish to attend! This will help the facilitator know how many people to expect.
About the Workshops
Thursday, June 17
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ● Hip Hop Lit: A Poetic Practice for the Child in You with Teré Fowler-Chapman
In this workshop we will examine the ways intersection of hip hop and literature cultivate healing for some of the oldest wounds. We will do this by engaging in meaningful dialogue of past rhymes and storytelling, understanding how these works play a role in our present, and use these tools to write a map towards a more intentional future. Join me as we explore the works of Sandra Cisneros and Kendrick Lamar. Through uncovering their commonalities and differences we will uncover our own.
Is your inner critic a poet? What would happen if you gave them the mic? We’ll see. Come and write your own inner dialogue poem! Learn some deep breathing techniques and share your poem with an intentional virtual community.
By being present in this virtual workshop you are committing to the following agreements: Taking care of myself by respecting my limits and capacity is the start of the poem, I show respect for others by holding space for others’ experiences and voices, my writing practice is an ongoing journey not a destination.
12:15 PM - 1:15 PM ● Exploitation versus Empowerment in the Creative Youth Activism Space with Akhila Bandlora and Heather Laurel Jensen
Join Akhila Bandlora and Heather Laurel Jensen, the 19-year-old co-founders of Creative Youth of Arizona, as we discuss our biggest takeaways after five years working as creative advocates both in Arizona and nationally. We’ll reflect on starting our own organization, advice for others, and our regrets, culminating in a discussion & journaling session to cultivate goals for the future and learn from the past. Come participate and ask questions or simply listen and absorb; we’d love to have you either way.
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM ● Collage 101 with Amber McCrary
Amber McCrary will instruct attendees on different ways to collage (physically and digitally). Using sample photos, Amber will illustrate how to collage in adobe spark, canva and by hand. Attendees can learn to to distribute their art by to converting the collages to PDFs which can be posted online or printed.
3:15 PM - 4:15 PM ● Building Liberated Worlds: Using poetics, lived experiences and imagination to create hopeful fantasies with Sean Avery
In times of social turmoil, the role of the artist is to imagine a different world, where the injustices and unfairness of our present one is undone, reversed, overcome, or non-existent.
This presentation uses the work of Danez Smith and Marlin M. Jenkins, two Black queer poets, who use poetry to build worlds that protect black folks from violence, and prevent exploitation of their culture, bodies, and labor.
By examining their writing, we learn how to responsibly evoke new possibilities, and dream other worlds through language that take care of those who are the most vulnerable in ours. (this applies to writers of any genre)
Friday, June 18
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ● Writes of Passage with Sareya Taylor
Writing your story can be a way of understanding your place in the world. Sareya Taylor will host a workshop on crafting your story to orient yourself as a young adult.
12:15 PM - 1:15 PM ● Scared of Your Shadow: Finding Your Persona in Poetry with Hunter Hazelton
This workshop aims to help writers to find their voice to create an authentic persona in their poetry. We will read some distinctive voices in contemporary poetry and write original work with short quick-write prompts. Sample works and writing prompts will challenge the content, structure, and images used in our poetry.
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM ● Where Do I Begin with Allie Mahai
Generating poetry when you have too much to say or not enough. Sometimes being able to take things away can help you understand what you have. Transforming the texts that surround you can give you renewed perspective on how to understand your poetry and generate more. This workshop will focus on starting and sustaining your poetry practice through exercises using black out poetry.
3:15 PM - 4:15 PM ● Community Open Mic
