Our ten students worked as Neighborhood Storytellers and Environmental Stewards. This summer, youth created documentaries on abandoned buildings, which were featured in the public art project Breathing Lights.
In our 6th year of collaboration with Rensselaer County Summer Youth Employment, each day we held a planning meeting, then spent the morning working greening our block in the Collard City Growers gardens. The youth arranged special community gardening activities in Spanish and English with “Español en el Jardín “workshops. At lunch we ate healthy meals that feature our urban homegrown harvest.
Our afternoons were spent producing original media, which were premiered by Neighborhood Ambassadors in community walking tours, featured in the Breathing Lights project.
—Uptown Summer 2016 Youth Documentary series: “Vacant Buildings, Vanished Dreams”
—Musical concert at Freedom Square: Mamadou Kelly
The Uptown Summer 16 youth supported the production of the outside community concert, with free food and art activities, at Freedom Square on Saturday, July 23, 2016, feturing Malian guitar virtuoso Mamadou Kelly performed at Freedom Square in Troy NY on July 23, 2016 as part of a US tour that took him from from New York to Los Angeles!
Uptown Summer 2016 projects included:
- Youth Media Sanctuary – sponsored by Breathing Lights – multiple productions (see above) + Brenda Ann Kenneally’s “Story Candles”
- WOOC community PSAs – sponsored by Drug Free Community Coalition
- Garden and infrastructure maintenance
- Signs for Collard City Growers gardens – identifying signage plus small stories
- Workshops –Hudson River estuary actions – video and/or audio – sponsored by the DEC and NEA – (could include “Floating Islands” with RADIX, Jillian Hirsch “Sturgeon”)
Uptown Summer 2016 projects were funded by:
- Breathing Lights — Youth Media Sanctuary — with Media Producer/Mentor
- DEC grant — year 3– with Environmental Steward Gardeners/ Mentors
- DFCC — Community PSAs (:30 – -2:00) — with Radio Outreach Producer/ Mentor
- NEA ARTWORKS “Urban Art Reclamations: Our Upper Hudson Heritage” and DEC “Hudson River Estuary”– Environmental Justice workshops
—Uptown Summer 2016 Participants
MENTORS
SYEP Coordinator:
Alan Thorne
Media:
Jamel Mosely
Kathy High
Andrew Lynn
Troy Pohl
Branda Miller
Steve Pierce
Gardens:
Christian Grigoraskos
Azure’ Keahi
Jillian Naveh
Rebekkah Rice
Kitchen Sanctuary:
Jonathan Segol
INTERNS
Julia Cavicchi
Eric
Jenna
Cleo
Tae-Shaun
VOLUNTEERS
Spanish garden workshops:
Phillipe Colon
St. Wayne
Katherine
