Welcome to the first in a series of blogs on how we, the social workers at the Pulitzer, develop our community projects. For the past several months our department has been developing the social work programming for the Pulitzer’s current exhibition Dreamscapes. Like many of our programs in the past our community projects department pulls inspiration from the exhibition and uses it as a framework to explore current social context. We specifically look to identify avenues in which the art within the Pulitzer’s walls relates to how we, as St. Louisans, experience everyday life. As we look at the current social climate, we can be overwhelmed by the economy, and how it might affect our aspirations. Taking note of programs offered by Beyond Housing, a local agency that provides support and services for individuals and families growing into their long-term goals, we felt Dreamscapes provided fertile ground for collaboration. For programming, we centered our ideas on dreams and aspirations, and what those might be for youth in St. Louis. By pairing Beyond Housing’s mission and programs with those of the Pulitzer’s social work programming, we developed the program Blueprint for a Dream (Blueprint).
There are several steps to consider before we could begin to discuss curriculum for Blueprint. First, we needed to build and strengthen our working relationships with our collaborators, meeting to discuss the development of a project together as to ensure all parties were mutually reinforced and benefited by the project. Simultaneous to the relationship building, we began researching other instances in which the arts have been paired with financial education, specifically within cultural institutions. From this research we created a reference guide to help build a program best suited for our collaboration; in social work lingo (and in the fields of education and medicine) this is called evidence based practice.
After several meetings and our initial research, we identified two Beyond Housing programs that matched our hopes for Blueprint. First, Freedom School, a summer program for youth offered and sponsored by Beyond Housing and the Children’s Defense Fund, working with children ages 5 to 13. The theme for Freedom School this year is “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Accomplishments,” quite serendipitous for our proposed collaborative project. The second portion of our program will work with Viking Advantage!, a match-savings program for high school students within the Normandy School District, sponsored by Beyond Housing, Truman Bank, and Normandy High School.
Once we had identified how to build our collaborative programming, our next step was to choose teaching artists who would align desired goals into a final product. Though these steps might seem lengthy and time consuming, they are vital in the beginning stages of my approach as the community projects coordinator. As an individual who is just beginning her endeavors in program development, my process might vary from some, though it has been one that has worked for me thus far. As we look to the start of our programs with Beyond Housing in the coming weeks, I will be sharing more with you about the development of Blueprint. Until the next installment, pleasant dreaming!–Emily Augsburger, Community Projects Coordinator
S.P. Reid says:
It’s interesting to read about the process you are implementing. More work goes into things like this than people realize. I like how you have much research and several meetings before deciding on which programs are a good fit. What stood out for me and why I am commenting is that the “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Accomplishments,” program of the Freedom School is aligned with a ‘thread’ or mode of thought that I believe brings all people to the same level. The reason that it resonates with me as an artist, is that I believe it applies worldwide, through all time. For example Picasso was an ordinary guy originally. Grandma Moses was ordinary originally. Ghandi? Probably ordinary to start with. They all became great though. What I wish is that people, of any age, can see themselves as the same as everybody else with the same ABILITY to do something great even if they do not become famous. This strikes me because I did a painting that was juried into a show in Califoria last leader. The title of the painting refered to someone on their way to ‘work’. Work means different things in different parts of the world in different times in history, but ordinary people have to go to work, and in their small non famous world they are doing something great simply for the fact that they are rising above whatever current situation that they are born into and they are being there to support others. To me that is what makes ordinary people great. In fact my statement for that painting I refer to was “Regular people are |my heroes| Are regular people”
And heroes are everyone who has risen to the occasion of Life. good luck with Blueprint For a Dream!