Often, because teenagers do not have the right to vote they assume that political advocacy is something beyond their reach. At Summer Institute each student will learn to use his or her passion to create social change.
Graduates work on projects throughout the Twin Cities that address issues relevant to their communities. Topics include racial stereotyping, body image, poverty and gender equality. This year eighteen students will create and actualize social change projects in communities across the state. Like a pebble thrown into a pool, the ripple effect of each project stimulates dialogue and awareness that can lead to real and lasting change around the issues our students identify as critically important. The potential impact is ultimately immeasurable.
Each of the students below has designed a unique artistic project that will address a social justice issue that matters to them. Read more about how these young people are making the world a more just and humane place.
Projects from Summer Institute 2009 Students
DEVIN - We Wear the Mask
 Is there such a thing as a "true self?" What is it? Why might we be scared, embarrassed, or ashamed to reveal our true self to others? In Devin's theatre survey class, he recently participated in an inspiring discussion about the pressures of the social world and how people often cope by covering their vulnerabilities or insecurities with metaphorical masks. Devin is interested in creating a project that explores the assortment of masks that we wear, whether at school, work, even around friends and family. Devin sees masks both as a means of projection and protection and will consider both internal and external lines of questions in the development of his project.
DESTINY - Wounded But Not Broken
 As a dancer, Destiny Davis has long been interested in communicating emotion through the body. For her social change project, she plans to use dance as a possible site for healing and awareness-raising about the issue of domestic abuse, particularly as it relates to women. Destiny will curate a workshop for a local women’s shelter in which volunteer participants will translate their stories into individual movement pieces that Destiny will guide into a larger piece. Often battered women are spoken about and spoken for. She hopes the project will give participants the opportunity to share their own stories based on the guiding question: Are you safe in the world? She hopes that the shelter will host a live performance open to other women and children at the shelter.
NATHAN - A Mosaic of Stories: A creative workshop for multiracial families
 Nathan will look at issues surrounding multiracial and interracially adoptive families and the challenges that face them. He will draw upon his own experience as a Colombian adoptee growing up in Minnesota to lead a workshop aimed at multiracial and interracially adoptive families at his church. The workshop will give families a chance to share cultural foods, stories and discuss white privilege, identity and the power of difference. He hopes that the workshop will give families a safe space to share their stories of adoption as well as the difficulties faced by children of color living with white parents in a predominantly white culture. The workshop will culminate in the creation of a mosaic mural which will become a permanent installation in the church and serve as a reminder of the many types of families and cultures that make up the church community.
INDIA - The Troubles They Go Through
 India's project is to show the outside world the social challenges and experiences of homeless youth and entice the audience to do something about it. She intends to interact with homeless youth at a local youth center and learn more about their personal life stories. After several weeks of volunteering at the center, India plans to develop and instruct a six-week dance workshop that will provide homeless youth an opportunity to learn a unique dance routine that they create together. Upon completion of the workshop, the youth will perform and show their struggle through movement in a full-size performance. India will partner with artists at Lundstrum Center for Performing Arts and the youth will perform at this dance school. Then she will invite the audience to write a review about the show and solutions for helping the homeless. It is India's desire to help people have a better understanding of the troubles some youth go through, how to garner public attention, and consider solutions to assist homeless youth.
ALYSSA - Seeing the Invisible Children
 Alyssa's project will raise awareness of the current situation in Northern Uganda amongst her peers at Minneapolis Community and Technical College (MCTC) and help them identify ways in which they can take action to change it. She will be holding events and fundraisers for the Schools for Schools program through Invisible Children, an organization created to raise awareness about Uganda and its people's plight. During her events she will share videos and stories about the child soldiers in Uganda. In the spring, she will host and produce an open event at the school to showcase performing art pieces and visual art inspired by the stories of child soldiers of Uganda.
MATT - Let Us Live On
 Matt plans to organize a project for social change wherein the youth of the community will come together for one day to share their politics, opinions, and artistry to demonstrate the power of the youth voice today. A fifty foot wall will be dedicated to a mural depicting the collaboration of participants around issues relevant to youth today. Entertainment for the event will revolve around Hip-Hop culture, but not excluding any other art forms. While the wall is being painted, on-stage performances will occur throughout the day, including Hip-Hop, break dancing, spoken word, singing, live bands, and more. Everything from production, to painting to performances will be done by artists under the age of 21.
GENESIS - What's on the Radio?
 Genesis attends Wiley College in Marshall, Texas and has her own radio show at KBWC. For her social change project she will be dedicating twelve of her radio spots throughout February to sharing important quotes by African Americans as well as little-known facts about black history. While Wiley College is a historically black college (HBCU), Marshall, Texas is predominantly white. Genesis feels that by sharing more about black culture via the airwaves she can help people to feel less ignorant while dealing with the students of Wiley College.
MICHELLE
 Michelle plans to address the discrimination based on race, gender and spirituality that affects young Christian women of color. She will work with the St. Thomas University group Pulse to create a dance and spoken word performance for their monthly campus cabaret. Michelle will choreograph a set of dancers as well as perform her own original monologues.
LIZZY
 Lizzy is very interested in the effects of judging and the invisible presence of prejudice that exists today. After losing a friend to a simple gunshot, Lizzy is persistent about raising awareness about the rising impact of gang violence in Minneapolis. She plans to lead a liturgy at her high school and incorporate short skits to show how violence and judging separates instead of bringing people together. She hopes this project will open the eyes of her community to the seriousness of prejudice and that teens everywhere will start to realize and get to know new people and find the beauty inside every person.
CHANTEL - Reclaim
 Chantel is concerned that many of the recreational centers in her community have been taken over by violence and this, in turn, has taken away a safe place where young people can get away from unsafe situations elsewhere. For her social change project, Chantel will create a short documentary film with the students of her local recreation center accounting the impact of violence on their experiences at the center. She will use theatre as a tool to create community by setting up an after school theatre program with youth at the center. She hopes to open up dialogue about this issue and ask the community to brainstorm solutions.
FELICIA - Bleeding Pens: Truth in Our Lives
 Felicia plans to develop a performance to raise awareness about the serious illness of depression. She will recruit 10-15 poets from high schools in her community and lead discussions about the impact of youth depression in student’s lives. Felicia will then facilitate a writing workshop where student poems will focus on youth depression which can include drug or alcohol abuse, violence and in some cases lead to suicide. Once the poems are complete, the participants will perform in a poetry slam for their school. For her project, Felicia plans on targeting youth homes and alternative schools as an audience in addition to her own school and community.
AH'LEE
 Ahlee wants to put together a performance of 5th -8th graders of different cultures/dancing and different levels of hip hop dance to their own artistic style to create change on favoritism and discrimination against stereotypes involving people thinking hip hop is only a black thing or thug/gang related thing. Opening minds to artistic change and freedom of expression.
MORIAH
 Moriah's project is being created in order to confront the discrimination and stigma that is attached to homosexuality and bisexuality. She sees the stereotypes that have been created and the homophobia that exists, even within the 'liberal bubble' of a performing arts school. She plans on creating a performance with a group of teens who have witnessed or experienced the effect of these stereotypes and homophobia and who also feel the need to do something about it. They will have rehearsals that consist of discussions, writing sessions, improv, and collaborative work that will lead to the creation of the final performance. After the performance, she plans to have a post-play discussion with the audience and cast. Through the performance and the discussion, Moriah wishes to create empathy and awareness about the issue, help the audience make steps to change it within their communities, and create new ways to challenge the stereotypes that society has established.
CALEB
 Caleb plans to distribute awareness of hazing in high school. This has become a major problem and has gone unnoticed. He hopes to build intolerance for the violence that frequently goes unpunished. He believes that this issue has affected too many people and wants people to stand up against this issue.
DAHLIA - Never Again, Happening Again
 Dahlia's project will focus on informing her audiences that despite the call for "never again," genocides continue to occur around the world. Her goal is to not only challenge the public's perception of genocides, but to inform people about where they are happening and why. She hopes to share the most important messages she has learned from this two year project, by putting together and performing a series of monologues that feature stories of survival from different genocides. Dahlia would like to raise money from her performances and donate it to a fund that is yet to be determined.
NICK - The Value and History of Spoken Word
 Nick will be performing at the No Shame Performance for his school. He will work with his dance instructor to prepare an example and educate young people on KRUMP, the form of dance that originated on the streets as an alternative outlet and means of expression to replace violence and gang activity. He hopes that his performance will inspire other young people to use their voices to speak out about issues that are important to them and to teach about the history of this important art form.
QUE - Enlightening What's in the Shadows
 Que's objective is to speak about tough life situations that happen often but are rarely comfortably discussed by the mainstream public. He plans on using his own life as an example by creating poetry and sharing his opinions on topics he feels need to be addressed. Que will post his poetry online via Facebook and also do a public performance on his campus at Minnesota State University. While working on this project, he will also continue revising and refining his social change project from 2008, a video documentary on the history of African American theatre.
LENA - H20 for 2.2 Too
 Lena is planning a public performance including music, theatre and visual art to raise awareness about the lack of clean water available throughout the world. Her goal is to inspire her community to work locally to conserve water and prevent pollution that would contribute to a water crisis in the future. Lena will also provide an opportunity for audience members to donate money to clean water initiatives like LifeStraw.
All Summer Institute 2009 student headshots by Amy McFadden, 2009.
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