Field trip to Jobs with Justice (JWJ).

The Bread and Roses student artists visited Jobs with Justice. JWJ is our fiscal sponsor.
Arron Burnet spoke with the students about his job as a lobor organizer.

Field trip to the Regional Arts Commission

The Bread and Roses program visited the Regional Arts Commission (RAC).
The Regional Arts Commission is one of our funders and the home of the Community Arts Training Institue (CAT).
Dail, Joan and Brett were CAT Fellows.
The Bread and Roses project originated from their lab team during CAT!

Kim Love and the Urban League.

Bread and roses field trip to see Dail Chamber's show at the Urban League.
Kim Love talked to the student artists about volunteerism and jobs in the arts and the Urban Leagues history.

A field trip to see Bruce Feldacker's law office.

Bread and Roses took a field trip to see Bruce Feldacker's labor themed art collection.

Lisa Kovarik visits with Bread and Roses

Lisa Granich-Kovarik is the Project Coordinator at Civitas Associates.

Percy Green visits Bread and Roses

Percy Green visited and discussed with the student artists the importance of activism.

Jackie Masei play back theater workshop

Jackie Masei Visits Bread and Roses

Jackie Masei. The Director of Playback Theater taught a workshop to the student artists in the the Bread and Roses program.

David Jackson plays conduit.

David Jackson shows student artists how to use anything make music.

David Jackson visits Bread and Roses

David Jackson Poet, Artist and Musician talked to the student artists about sound, instument making and poetry.

The beginnings.

Audrey Hollis visits the Bread & Roses Program!

Briana's Sketchbook

During all of the excitement of our program, one person keeps documenting her process through her Sketchbook! Check her out!

A wonderful Trip around town!

After the holiday break, and Saint Louis' many snow days- the Bread & Roses crew were able to take an artistic, socially just tour to our funders and community collaborators.

1. We started at the Regional Arts Commission www.art-stl.com and viewed an awesome photography exhibition of two local artists. Many of the students were compelled by the work of Leo Callazo, and his reflections.
2. We zoomed to Jobs With Justice. We met a couple of awesome organizers, including Aaron Burnett. Thank you Charlie, for getting us some tasty pizza. Everyone loved the Mother Jones film that Joan put in, but no one loved it more than Joan.
3. We made a visit to St. Louis Urban League. Kim Love gave a great pressentation on the work and history of the Urban League, and the area scholarships they offer to outstanding students (We had two of our own apply for it... and we are crossing our fingers!)
4. Lastly, we visited Bruce Feldacker who has a beautiful collection of labor union artwork and collectibles.

All of the students were fired up when returning back to Riverview Gardens High. One student wrote, " I really didn't have a least favorite because they were all uniquely different and good."

We look forward to seeing how these experiences influence the young peoples' artmaking practices!

Your Mind in an Abyss by Chris.

Art work, Sketch books.

Pictures from the first few sessions.

Here are some pictures from our first few sessions.

WE DID IT !

We found a sponsor for our program! Jobs With Justice agreed to be our fiscal sponsor and we became a "Bread & Roses" project. That made it possible for us to pursue funding. We polished up the mock grant we presented at CAT and submitted it under the JWJ banner to the Regional Arts Commission. Just then Kresge Arts in St. Louis announced they were coming back for 2010. Only ten groups would be funded. It sounded like a long shot, but we submitted our letter of interest and we were one of the ten groups selected! Talk about excitement! RAC came through as well and we were sufficiently funded to go back to the Riverview Gardens School District to work out the details of our community arts program.

There had been some changes at the School District. Brian Jones,the Drama Coach we had been working with through our six months at CAT, along with all the teaching staff in the District, had been layed off when the State Board of Education took over the school district. He had reapplied and was waiting for confirmation that he had been re-hired. And there was a brand new District Superintendent. Dr. Rainey was good enough to meet with us in the middle of all the re-organization. He liked our program! Brian was re-hired and we were back on course!

Graduation

CAT graduation is approaching and that means we have to be ready to present! 3 For Justice team members have been pushing hard to get everything done! Today we have been working to finish our grant proposal. Tonight we will be practicing our presentation!

We are really serious about making our project become a reality on the other side of our training. The kids at Riverview Gardens High School are really special and so is their Coach Brian Jones.

Technical Difficulties

Our interview video with Brian had some technical difficulties due to a known bug with flash player in blogger. The issue should be resolved now. :)