What's up with YAC?

"Who Are 'We the People'?" Art Exhibition

2012-01-24T14:12:00.009-05:00

From February 3rd to the 29th, we'll be hosting our first major exhibition of the year, "Who Are 'We the People'?" at the Northampton Center for the Arts. This is the theme all of our programs have spent time pondering since October, and the exhibit is a culmination of all the ideas, questions and creativity that has arisen through this process.

The Opening Reception will be on Friday 2/10, 5pm to 7pm during Arts Night Out. There will be refreshments and live music played by some of YAC's musicians!

The exhibition is organized in two parts. The East Gallery will feature photographic works by the members of GirlsEyeView Ware, GirlsEyeView Amherst, and E'Town Rising. The West gallery will contain a collaborative sculture/video instillation as well as individual works created by Get Up Get Down and Video Vanguards.

Everyone has worked so hard pulling their work together for this show. Be sure to visit the gallery between February 3rd and 29th. But no matter what you do, visit the gallery during Arts Night Out on February 10th for our opening day reception!

YAC is looking for performers!

2012-01-03T09:43:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!

We're looking for people who want to participate in a short spoken word performance at our annual fundraiser, "Lights, Camera, Youth Action!" Anyone who has been there in the past knows it's a wonderful event, and having a youth performance would add a lot. The date of the event is 2/12/12, and rehearsals for the performance will be held in January. Patrick will be around looking for interested people, so if you'd like to help out let him know!

Art Party Photos!

2011-12-22T11:13:00.002-05:00

As promised, here are some photos from the YAC Unity Event a few weeks ago, where the YAC community put on display their multitude of talents. This slideshow was put together by Barry Scott, program coordinator for E'town Rising. Thanks Barry!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb18psCU91U&context=C3cf5968ADOEgsToPDskItfql8xffT93AwomTqnAzw

YAC's Got Talent!

2011-12-13T10:37:00.002-05:00

A huge thanks to everyone who attended, and to everyone who presented at our 2nd YAC Unity of the year this past Friday. We had an open mic/art share at the Mercy House in Amherst, and we saw just how talented our crowd is! Presentations ranged from musical performances, to slideshows of photography, to spoken poetry! This event left us eager for the next YAC Unity- and possibly even another open mic next semester!

On a different note, Video Vanguards will be having their Works in Progress and Classics Reel this Friday. Come to this screening to see the great work that the youth of VV have been doing all year. It will be this Friday, December 16th, at 6 pm, at Amherst Media (245 College St, Amherst).

Photos of the Unity Event to come!!!

A Congratulations, and an Invitation!

2011-12-01T13:15:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone! First of all, we'd like to congratulate one of our Girls Eye View Ware youth, Annalee Clough! She submitted her photography to the Joy of Give Something Foundation's fall photo contest. See her work here: http://www.jgsinc.org/resolution/resolution-contest/gallery-fall-2011/contestant-annalee-clough-fall-2011/

These photos are a great example of work that is both technically sound and socially pertinent. Way to go Annalee!

Second, I invite you to come to YAC's 2nd Unity Event of the year, which will be an open mic/art share at the Mercy House in Amherst! It's going to be taking place next Friday, from 6-8pm. Come a bit early to help prepare food if you can, or prepare something at home if you'd like! But the only thing you need to bring is yourself, and whatever you'd like to show- whether it be music, art, photography, film- anything at all! For more details, check out the event on Facebook by looking through YAC's events. I hope to see you there!

Working in the Metal Shop with Get Up Get Down.

2011-11-22T17:08:00.003-05:00

Having a few weeks in the shop has been lots of fun. We have been learning hand tools, power tools, and MIG welding. The first assignment was to create some kind of self-portrait using found materials.

Get Up Get Down kicks off the year with a fieldtrip to a local sculpture park!

2011-11-22T16:47:00.002-05:00

On the 13th of October, we traveled to Easthampton where Park Hill Orchard hosts a sculpture exhibit called "Art in the Orchard." We toured the 20 sculptures made mostly of recycled material and scrap metal for inspiration. Despite the muck and clouds we had a lovely time and appreciated the beautiful view. Some of the more memorable included a larger-than-life metal tiger made out of rebar, a giant wasp made of scrap metal, and a flowery symphony of saw blades.

1st YAC Unity: First Generation Performance Project

2011-10-17T13:18:00.002-04:00

What a way to start off the new year! A special thanks to all those who came to the Jones Library this past Friday. We watched an incredible performance from some of First Generation's youth performers, then engaged in some truly inspiring dialogue. And we can't forget the awesome games that our first facilitators were able to show us!

Thank you to First Generation for helping us kick off the year with a wonderful YAC Unity. If you couldn't come to this one, be sure to try to get to the next one! Ask any of your friends who went, and I am confident they will recommend it! On the agenda for next time: an open mic/art share. Should be a great time, details to come!

Need some more YAC this summer?! Check out the STREET ART PROJECT!

2011-06-27T09:47:00.003-04:00

Have you seen GUGD's new mural on the side of the Amherst Cinema Building? Pretty cool, right?! Well, this summer you, too, can make art in downtown Amherst!

Announcing the STREET ART PROJECT!

This summer YAC is collaborating with PRISM: the ARHS 21st Century After School Program to offer a really exciting program for any youth interested in exploring their creativity and making artwork that is relevant and alive in the community.

July 5-21

T/W/Th -- 1pm-4pm

meet at ARHS and make art downtown!

Students may earn 1 elective credit thru ARHS Summer School! Attend all sessions, pay a small fee (lunch included!) Sign up with Lisa Candito, ARHS Room 311, canditol@arps.org, 413.362.1789

For more information contact Katie Richardson: katie@youthactioncoalition.org, 413.253.2158

FIGMENT Boston: What an AWESOME trip!

2011-06-06T10:59:00.000-04:00

Wanna work at YAC? We're hiring!

2011-05-16T12:53:00.002-04:00

Now’s your chance to run an Arts-for-Change program! We’re looking for enthusiastic artists and youth workers for two program coordinator positions beginning this fall:

- GirlsEyeView programs in Ware and Amherst, 20-25 hrs/wk

- E'town Rising program in Easthampton, 8-15 hrs/wk

All positions begin September 2011. The application deadline is June 15, and interviews will happen in late June/early July. For the full job posting, email Hannah at hannah@youthactioncoalition.org

GirlsEyeView Ware Field Trip to UMass University Museum

2011-04-28T13:31:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, 10 girls from GEV Ware piled into a big white van for the half hour drive to UMass Amherst. We went to the University Museum, where there is an exhibit up by photographer David Goldblatt.

Our kind guide Eva provided context for the exhibit - we learned all about the Apartheid era in South Africa.

Eva also talked to us about how David Goldblatt doesn't consider himself an "artist" persay - he documents the world around him as he sees it.

Having just one hour to visit the exhibit was nowhere near enough time! It was hard to tear ourselves away for the incredible, giant images. Everyone had a different favorite - mine was the room with a number to triptychs that really allowed the viewer to step inside the photograph.

It was a super fun time!

E'town Rising: Artwalk and EHS Art Show!

2011-04-18T14:43:00.004-04:00

E'town Rising: Voices of Youth has been working on a really exciting project, learning to create handmade books from some of the amazing, talented book-binders located in Easthampton.

On Saturday April 9th, they hosted a scavenger hunt at the Easthampton Art Walk, engaging many people in the Art Walk in a unique way - participants located handmade photo books at 5 different venues at the Art Walk, collecting a stamp for each book they located in hopes of winning a prize at the end.

On the heels of that successful event, all the E'town participants have photos in the upcoming Easthampton High School Arts Fest, with an opening reception on May 5th from 4-7pm at the Elusie and ECA Galleries in Easthampton!

Come and check them out!

The YAC Retreat was AMAZING!

2011-04-01T12:27:00.006-04:00

Last Friday and Saturday, twenty-five YACies gathered at Earthdance Retreat Center in Plainfield, MA for the YAC Retreat!

Earthdance was the perfect venue, although coming from the Valley we weren't quite prepared for it to still be winter up in the hills! It was cold and snowy, and we were all grateful for the warm Umbrella Studio where we spent most of our time.

On Friday evening everyone brought a dish to share and we had the most abundant, delicious potluck meal I've ever seen in my life. We then headed over to the studio, where Get Up Get Down lead the group in a brainstorm about social justice issues that move us personally and as an organization.

We used the discussion as inspiration to paint a collaborative mural!

While some were painting, other YACies shared their significant talents in poetry, music, photography and video. By the end of the evening, we were wondering why YAC doesn't specialize in performance with all the talent of our members!

It was late to bed, early to rise. Breakfast was at 8am, followed by an intensive visioning process led by Diana, Stacey and Zeke. We generated a TON of ideas about what YAC does well and where we should focus our attention in the future. A strategic planning committee will be formed to create a way forward! Come to the YAC board meeting on Monday, 4/4 if you're interested in participating.

Hannah led a workshop on making recycled notebooks, and Video Vanguards trained a group of YACies in ad-busting.

After lunch, Dee helped us examine our social identities by thinking about the stories around our names, and about all the various facets that make up our identity.

Sasha ran the last training, giving the group concrete skills to be better active bystanders. See the Six Step Guide in the photo below!

Overall the YAC retreat was an invaluable experience, both for YAC as an organization and for its individual members. New friendships were forged, talents were discovered, and a whole lot of plans were made!

Awesome opening reception last Thursday!

2011-03-14T10:16:00.003-04:00

WOW! What a great time was had by all at the YAC photo opening at the ETTA/Community-Photo-Access Gallery! Work by all three YAC photography programs, including E'town Rising, GirlsEyeView Amherst and GirlsEyeView Ware was represented in the show.

There were lots of delicious snacks, and then an intimate show by the incredibly talented and impressive band Who'da Funk It?!

If you weren't able to make the opening, you can still go see the photos! The gallery is located at 534 Main St in Amherst, and will be open Thursday through Sunday, 1pm-4pm throughout the month of March!

Stay tuned for upcoming YAC events, including a photo book scavenger hunt by E'town Rising at the Easthampton Art Walk on April 9th and an end-of-year YAC Unity show at the Burnett Gallery of the Jones Library in Amherst during the month of June!

E'town Rising member Nicole LaFortune selected at Finalist in Videa Youth Photo Challenge!!!

2011-03-04T14:53:00.004-05:00

Congratulations to Nicole LaFortune for being selected as a finalist in the Videa Youth Photo Contest! This international photo competition had hundreds of submissions, and Nicole's was in the top 15! WOW!

See Nicole's winning image below:

Busy Days for YAC Unity!

2011-02-08T22:49:00.011-05:00

As usual, YAC Unity is doing many exciting things!

In December, before winter break, YAC Unity had a mold-making session at Leverett Crafts and Arts.

Everybody had a blast making plaster masks of their faces and molds of their hands.

At the end of January, YAC journeyed to North Adams, Massachusetts to the MASS MoCA art museum.

The day was spent leisurely exploring the exhibits, including the Sol Lewitt installation.

YAC Thanks Community for Support at LCYA Fundraiser

2010-11-19T12:27:00.017-05:00

The recent Lights, Camera, Youth Action fundraiser brought in a lot of support from the community, and YAC would like to thank everyone involved. The generosity and kindness that we receive from our supporters means so much to the organization. The night went wonderfully and it was great to see everyone. We would like to extend our thanks to everyone involved in the event.

The event brought in quite a crowd!

Presenters from our five Arts-for-Change programs showed their work and explained how being a part of YAC has affected their lives.

Special thanks to the Amherst Regional High School Jazz Workshop for their lovely music and to Peter Hadley Catering for providing delicious hors d'oeuvres and dessert.

If you didn't make it to the event and but nevertheless would like to show your support, you can still donate! You can donate online via Network for Good or send your check straight to YAC, P.O. Box 747, Amherst, MA 01004.

Thanks again to all of our supporters!

Get Up Get Down off to a geat start!

2010-11-06T11:59:00.009-04:00

Get Up Get Down is off to a great start this year. Gathering in Hampshire College's Lemelson Center on Mondays and Thursdays, they are already exploring different types of art.

Using plaster, they are learning to make molds of their own hands.

They are also using magazine cutouts to create cool buttons with the button-making tool.

First YAC Unity of the Year Welcomes First Generation!

2010-10-28T09:54:00.013-04:00

Last Friday, YAC held the first YAC Unity event of the year in a joint workshop with the First Generation Ensemble for some performance art fun!

YAC Unity brought together students, interns, board directors, and staff members together for an evening full of getting to know each other and exploring performance art with the help of First Generation. First Generation is a Springfield-based youth leadership group that expresses both individuality and cultural ties through performing.

During the workshop, First Generation taught YAC several theater and performance games. Some of them included...

Zip, Zap, Zop...

sound games...

Rabbit and Fox...

and the Booty Game.

All participants greatly enjoyed the event. At the closing, several people expressed how wonderful it was to meet new people and learn new things.

For more information on First Generation, check out their website: http://www.performanceproject.org/fg.html

To keep in touch with more YAC Unity events, "like" us on Facebook! : http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1836885056#!/pages/Youth-Action-Coalition/198228199841

THE FUNDRAISER IS COMING!!!

2010-10-26T11:06:00.002-04:00

Mark your calendar for LIGHTS, CAMERA, YOUTH ACTION!

Thursday, November 4th!

5-7pm!

Valentine Hall at Amherst College!

RSVP to hannah [at] youthactioncoalition.org!

The latest from Youth Action Coalition ... 3 BIG announcements!

2010-10-21T13:13:00.006-04:00

New 21st Century Community Learning Centers partnership: same programs > new partner!

YAC teams up with the Collaborative, ARHS & EHSWe are pleased to announce a new partnership! The Collaborative for Educational Services led the way to a 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant that will bring new after school programs to both Amherst Regional and Easthampton High Schools. YAC--as one of the community partners--will bring our signature Arts-for-Change project offerings to each site (see program schedule below for details).

For more information about 21st Century programs: Chris Taggart, After School Program Director at the Collaborative: 413.586.4900 x 158,ctaggart@collaborative.org,www.collaborative.org/after-school

For YAC info contact Stacey: slennard@youthactioncoalition.org, 413.253.2158 x1

We've got a program for you(th)! Fall Program Schedule

E'Town Rising: Voices of Youth
Tu/Th @ 2:15-4:30p [begins THURS, 10/14]
Easthampton High School
Equipped with digital cameras and creative writing, E’town youth explore and communicate their views about their community. Themes and focus will emerge as the program begins. This is a collaborative project with Easthampton High School.

For more info: Erica Ann: eaflood@youthactioncoalition.org.
Register at EHS 21stC Office: Ibrahim Ali: iali@collaborative.org

GirlsEyeView Amherst
Tu/Th @ 2:30-5p [begins TUES, 10/19]
Amherst Regional High School
GirlsEyeView (GEV) offers young women a safe space to explore who they are through photography and creative writing. We focus on self exploration, women’s issues and community through black and white manual photography. Youth learn to process their film and print their images in the darkroom, host community exhibitions, and sell their photos. We are proud to continue our longstanding partnership with Amherst Regional Middle and High Schools. This year GEV is open to girls in 7-9th grades, forming a bridge between middle and high school.
For more info: Erica Ann: eaflood@youthactioncoalition.org
Register at ARHS 21stC Office: Lisa Candito:lcandito@collaborative.org

GirlsEyeView Ware
M/W @ 2:45-4:45p [begins WED, 10/6]
The Literacy Project-Ware
GirlsEyeView Ware is our longest running program, founded in 1997! GEV offers a supportive and creative space for young women to express themselves and their ideas through digital photography and creative writing. We partner with the The Literacy Project-Ware, Ware High School and the Ware Domestic Violence Task Force, helping to build bridges among youth both in and out of school and empower girls to take on important community issues with a photographic response. Youth work is exhibited in local restaurants, galleries, in the streets and on Ware Community Television. Open to 13-18 year old girls. For more info: Lauren: lauren@youthactioncoalition.org

Get Up Get Down
M/Th @ 4-6p [begins MON, 10/18]
Get Up Get Down (GUGD) empowers young people to speak their minds through public art. Since 2000, youth in the Amherst area have used a variety of art forms to get their messages out -- from murals to street puppets, metal sculpture to paper mache, sidewalk art to gallery work -- investigating issues that are relevant to them and their communities. Examples of their innovative projects include: multi-media murals in the community and in the high school, sculptural masks, and grafitti murals at Hampshire College. Open to high school-aged youth. Our community collaborators include Amherst Regional High School 21st C After School Program and the Collaborative for Educational Services, and Hampshire College.
For more info: Katie: katie@youthactioncoalition.org
Register at ARHS 21stC Office: Lisa Candito:lcandito@collaborative.org

Video Vanguards
M/Th @ 4-6p [begins MON, 10/18]
Video Vanguards (VV) works with youth of color and their allies integrating youth leadership, video production, media critique and social justice education. Youth use these skills to create video pieces that address issues that are overlooked by the mainstream media. They organize socially conscious screenings and events throughout the year and attend various trainings, conferences and workshops. Our partners include: Amherst Community Television, Amherst Regional High School 21st C After School Program and the Collaborative for Educational Services, Food For Thought Books, and Hampshire College
For more info: Sasha: sasha@youthactioncoalition.org
Register at ARHS 21stC Office: Lisa Candito:lcandito@collaborative.org

Dates subject to change. Please check in with staff of respective program for updates.

256 N. Pleasant Street | P.O. Box 747 | Amherst, MA 01004 | 413.253.2158
www.youthactioncoalition.org

Cool opportunity: Join the Governor's Statewide Youth Council!

2010-07-12T10:01:00.003-04:00

Sounds like they're looking for youth like you! Contact the YAC office for the application! hannah [at] youthactioncoalition.org

To: Massachusetts Youth and Young Adults, Ages 14-20

In response to a 2008 outbreak of youth-related violence in the Greater Boston area and in order to incorporate youth voices into the policy-making process, Governor Patrick created the Governor’s Statewide Youth Council. Since that time, the Youth Council’s mission has been to advise the Governor in making decisions and setting policy to improve the lives of young people throughout the Commonwealth.

Current Youth Council members are now serving their second and final term. They will be selecting 28 new Youth Council members to represent Massachusetts’ fourteen counties, two Council members per county. They are now aggressively seeking to contact and recruit potential candidates throughout the state to apply for membership in the Youth Council.

Youth Council applicants should be passionate, motivated, emerging leaders between the ages of 14 and 20 who are able to make a two-year service commitment. Their responsibilities will include: attending monthly meetings and conference calls, advocating for youth issues and incorporating the ideas of other youth and young adults into the creation of effective policy.

The Youth Council has advocated on various issues in the Patrick administration; most recently, the historic anti-bullying legislation that Governor Patrick just signed. To learn more about activities, initiatives and trainings that the Youth Council has participated in please visit www.mass.gov/governor/youthcouncil or contact Anny Jean-Jacques at the Governor’s Office of Community Affairs (617-725-4020).

Sincerely,

Governor’s Statewide Youth Council

Congratulations on an awesome year!

2010-06-07T15:25:00.006-04:00

The month of May went by fast and furious at YAC - with at least one event every single week! We've been displayed, barbecued, screened and recognized, and now all four programs have wrapped up for the year.

Check out photos of Making Our Way, the YAC-wide end of year show, on Facebook.

If you have any additional photos, please post them to the Youth Action Coalition Facebook page or email them to Hannah - hannah [at] youthactioncoalition.org

This summer, in the YAC office, we'll be working on planning for next fall! On that note, I'd like to introduce Briana Hanny, our summer intern! Briana comes to us through the Amherst College Pioneer Valley Internship Program, and will be working at YAC throughout June and July. If you're involved in a YAC program, you'll probably be hearing from her soon as she works on evaluating our programs and planning for the fall!

Today, Tomorrow, and Friday!

2010-05-12T15:27:00.005-04:00

So much exciting stuff happening this week at YAC!!!

First, tonight YAC is co-sponsoring the Town of Amherst Social Justice Project showing of Unnatural Causes. Join us tonight from 5-7pm at Amherst Cinema for this free showing of the eye-opening documentary about the causes of health inequality in the United States. Check out the preview below of the section being shown tonight!

Next up, on Thursday night from 5:30-7pm, the Capturing Stories Capstone Class from UMass Amherst will be presenting their completed projects at Food for Thought Books. These students spent the year volunteering with community organizations, including YAC, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County, the Amherst Survival Center, the Literacy Project, Nuestras Raices, and the Center for New Americans, and interviewing people involved with the organizations to share their stories. It's going to be a great evening, with 5 YACies profiled!

Finally, this Friday from 5-7pm is MAKING OUR WAY: the YAC art & media showcase! Join all of YAC at the Nacul Center Gallery (592 Main St, Amherst) to see some amazing artwork and celebrate an incredible year of programming.

There will be food donated by the Fresh Side and Henion Bakery!

This event is also a fundraiser for YAC. We'll be accepting donations at the door, there will be a raffle drawing for prizes from many local businesses, and many pieces of youth artwork will be for sale.

Coming up this month at YAC!

2010-04-27T11:21:00.007-04:00

This is a busy, busy month here at Youth Action Coalition! Every week we have more events coming down the pike. So what, you ask, is up? Here's the list!

Thursday, April 29th at 7pm Food for Thought Books is hosting a community dialogue on smashing racism as part of their Celebration for Liberation series. A suggested $5-25 donation will help support the effort to bring people from Western MA (including youth from VV!) to the US Social Forum in Detroit this June. Check out the Food for Thought Books website or Facebook for more information about upcoming events in the Celebration for Liberation series.

_____

And because it is impossible to have too much dialogue, you should also join YAC for the third installment of the Dialogue Project on Friday, April 30th from 3:45-6pm. The first two conversations were amazing, and we hope to have even more YACies participate in this third and final dialogue. Come one, come all! Help YAC advance our goal of being an anti-racist organization. Partake in the DELICIOUS food that Leda so generously provides us.

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From El Barrio to the World: Community Film Festival
5/1 -- 1-5pm @ Hooker Auditorium, Mt. Holyoke College

Join Mt. Holyoke College student organizers and a consortium of local youth, college students and filmmakers for an afternoon of inspiring videos! YAC’s Video Vanguards youth will represent! For more info: (646) 703-3205 or youthsummits09@gmail.com

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Site Beyond Sight

Friday, May 7, 2010 -- 7-10pm
Hampshire College Library Gallery

Join our Get Up Get Down Program Coordinator, Hampshire College student, and artist, Kamil Peters, for this innovative exhibition. Experience the magic of masks!

Get Up Get Down youth creations will also be shown, part of Kamil’s critical pedagogy explorations with GUGD.

In Kamil's words:
"A gallery show, and the magic of the influence that the beginning of time contributed to make today what it is. Masks have been a part of every culture, before the oceans were explored cultures across the globe were creating some form of face-altering imagery that went beyond "art", because it was a way of life. My show is an attempt to bring that form of homage to the present day."

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As part of its work on Social Justice and Health Equity, The Town of Amherst and the Amherst Department of Human Rights and Human Resources is extending a special invitation to all interested people to FREE screenings and discussions of:

UNNATURAL CAUSES… is inequality making us sick?

DATES
28 April 2010—Place Matters
12 May 2010—Not Just a Paycheck: co-sponsored by YAC!
19 May 2010—In Sickness and In Wealth
9 June 2010—When the Bough Breaks
16 June 2010—Bad Sugar
23 June 2010—Collateral Damage

TIME 5:00pm—7:00pm
5:00—5:30 Registration
5:30—6:00 Screening
6:00—7:00 Dialogue to Action
WHERE
Amherst Cinema
This program is FREE and open to the public. Because seating is limited, we recommend obtaining free tickets IN ADVANCE at the Amherst Cinema box office.

The screening will include a forum—Implications of inequality and health for the Amherst community: A dialogue among participants—facilitated by Dr. Barbara J. Love and introductions by Amherst Human Rights/Human Resources Director, Eunice Torres.

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Please Join Us!
Capturing Stories for Community End of Year Exhibit, Discussion and Celebration
Thursday, May 13th 5:30pm – 7:00pm
Food for Thought Books
106 North Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA 01002-1703
(413) 253-5432
www.foodforthoughtbooks.com

Capturing Stories for Community is a collaboration between the Community Engagement Program of Commonwealth Honors College--UMass Amherst and six local community-based organizations: Nuestras Raíces, the Literacy Project, Youth Action Coalition, the Amherst Survival Center, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Hampshire County, and the Center for New Americans

In this year-long community-based research project, students volunteered in one of six community-based organizations, conducted research on relevant economic, social and policy issues, and collected oral histories of people who participate in and are served by the community organizations.

The collected stories are one way for the participating community organizations to honor and share the life experiences and views of the individuals with whom they work and serve. The course explores the role that stories can play in deepening our understanding of public issues and building community capacity and challenges us to think about the relationships among community, history and social change. This end of year presentation is an opportunity for all those involved in the project, and others, to hear a selection of the stories and learn more about the project.

Triggering Change Conference THIS WEEKEND at Hampshire College

2010-04-21T11:58:00.002-04:00

This Saturday is the Triggering Change Conference at Hampshire College. The topics this year are Hip Hop, Community Engagement, and Sites of Empowerment.

The conference features many workshops that are focused specifically on engaging youth - this is a really amazing opportunity to bring the dialogue from your YAC program out into the wider community.

Registration is free! Here's the website: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/59F776X

The schedule of the conference is available at this website: http://trggradio.wordpress.com/

Here are a couple of the workshops and discussions that are really exciting:

'The Main Ingredient’: Youth Education and Media Reform Movements

PANEL
Moderator: Issa Carter

Dee Shabazz, “Seeing the World Through Their Eyes: Media-based Youth Empowerment Strategies at Peck Middle School”

Herman Shelton: “Anti-Violence Organizing with Chicago Youth”

Jordan Berg, “Step by Step: How Political Literacy can Advance Media Reform”

What’s class got to do with it? How talking about class will advance economic and racial justice

WORKSHOP
Facilitated by Rachel Rybaczuk

This workshop will give participants an opportunity to explore race and class intersections from personal, organizational and cultural perspectives. Interactive activities, dialogue, reflection, and visual media will give participants a dynamic way to learn about economic inequality, identify systemic examples of classism, and reflect on social class identity—and how these interact with race. The goal is to bring the topic of class into our communities and movements so we can advance economic and racial justice.

Defining the Elements: Empowering Youth through the Evolution of Hip-Hop

(A workshop designed primarily for youth)
Facilitated by Aisha Jordan and 2050 Legacy

At a Glance: Addressing College Access

The Student Bridges program at UMass Amherst connects underrepresented first-generation college students with K-12 youth in reciprocal tutoring-mentoring relationships with the goal of increasing college access. – In this interactive discussion, participants will consider the concept of college access and explore their relationship to it. Participants will then listen to panelist discuss various barriers and pathways to college as identified by Student Bridges staff students and affiliated youth. By listening and identifying with the facilitators, we hope that participants will begin to think about college access and their role and ability to make change.

Hope to see many of you there!

Mask-making workshop

2010-04-15T09:46:00.005-04:00

On Saturday, April 10 Kamil led a mask-making workshop for all members of YAC. It was great fun! Here are some photos:

Kamil explains the mask-making process.

Evelynn, Grace, Sam, Hannah and Staci cut strips of plaster!

The group designing their masks.

Looking great, Sam!

All participants both had their face cast in plaster and helped cover their partner's face - there were lots of creative designs. We painted several masks at GEV Ware this past Monday, and they turned out AWESOME!

The masks will be on display at the YAC end of the year show on May 14th, and at Kamil's Div-III show on May 7th! Come out and see them!

Community Event: Hip Hop Dance Workshop this Saturday

2010-04-09T12:48:00.002-04:00

This Saturday, April 10, 2010, 2050 Legacy in conjunction with UMass Student Bridges, will be hosting a dance workshop downstairs in the UMass Campus Center, room 904-08 from 2-4:30 pm.

Please bring clothes and sneakers you can move in and LOTS of ENERGY!!!

The pieces created in the workshop will be showcases at Student Bridge's Hip Hop Evolution arts event on April 30th at 7pm. Please pass the word along and we'll see you on Saturday!!!

Exciting Upcoming Events this weekend!!!

2010-04-08T11:21:00.003-04:00

We've got some great events coming up this weekend at YAC!

Tomorrow, Friday, is the second installment of the Dialogue Project.

The Dialogue Project aims to engage people of all races/ethnicities in dialogue about the idea of race and racial identification as embedded in power relations based on skin color that remain very much in existence in the current cultural climate. We will conduct three sequential dialogues with YAC in small groups. Each group will discuss the impact of racial identity on their lives and on the groups with which they identify. We will also look at the ways all groups participate (whether voluntarily or coerced) in whiteness as they struggle to gain footing in a racially stratified society.

The second dialogue is in the Pole Room at the Bangs Community Center in Amherst. Come at 3:45 to enjoy some delicious homemade food and treats from Henion Bakery, then participate in the dialogue from 4-6pm.

On Saturday, April 10 from 10-1, Get Up Get Down will be leading a mask-making workshop at in Studio 2 of the Art Barn at Hampshire College. This is an exciting opportunity to learn some basic mask-making skills, spend time with everyone in YAC programs, and cover your face in vaseline and plaster! It's a chance for people to get some instruction but to also explore their own creativity.

This workshop is offered as a part of the Hampshire College Center for Civil Liberties and Public Policy's (CLPP) annual Reproductive Rights conference. We are encouraging any interested youth to participate in the conference during the afternoon on Saturday.

If you are interested in attending the conference as well as the mask-making workshop, you should register in advance if possible (it's free). Here's the link: http://clppconference.rvtc.us/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=1

Fabulous GUGD interns Vic and Cory have generously offered to have a talk-back, a safe space where YACies can bring up/talk through anything that came up during the workshops, after the last workshop of the day (at 6:45). It is important that we know who is interested in attending the conference so they can reserve a space. Please post on the Facebook event wall if you want to attend the conference as well as the workshop!

Here is the schedule for the conference: http://clpp.hampshire.edu/projects/conference/2010/schedule. You will see when you look through that there are a number of workshops focused on youth and youth-related interests that could be compelling for folks to attend!

Hope to see many of you there!

Speaking out for social justice: an article by Paul Loeb

2010-03-26T12:54:00.002-04:00

Soul of a Citizen: Vaclav Havel, Barack Obama and Unforeseen Fruits

By Paul Rogat Loeb

To keep the political hope to stay involved, it helps to remember that our actions can bear unforeseen fruits. Change comes, to be sure, when we shift governmental or corporate policies, elect better leaders, or create effective local alternatives that can serve as broader models. Despite the limits of the just-passed health care bill, and the need to improve it through further legislation, it’s a major victory that over thirty million more Americans will now have health insurance, largely paid for through taxes on the wealthy. So concrete results matter, including the sometimes razor-thin elections that shifted the Senate and House from bodies dedicated to handing favors to a tiny elite, to ones at least beginning to pass legislation benefiting ordinary Americans.

But change also comes when we stir the hearts of previously disengaged citizens and help them take their own moral stands. We never know how the new-found involvement of those we engage will play out in the rest of their lives, but if we inspire enough people to take those first steps in speaking out for justice we can sometimes transform history.

* * *

I once went for a run in Fort Worth, Texas, in a grassy park along a riverbank. Coming upon a man shaking a tree, I hesitated, then stopped and asked, “What are you doing?”

“It’s a pecan tree,” he said. “If I shake it enough, the nuts will come down. I can’t know exactly when they’ll fall or how many. But the more I shake it, the more I’ll get.”

This seems an apt metaphor for social involvement. Often our efforts may yield few clear or immediate results. Our victories will almost always be partial, as the health care bill exemplifies. But we need to draw enough strength from our initial steps to help us persevere. “You have to begin with small groups,” said Modjesca Simkins, a veteran South Carolina civil rights activist told me when she was eighty four. “But you reach the people who matter. They reach others. Like the Bible says, leaven in the lump, like yeast in the dough. It rises somewhere else. “

Under Czechoslovakia’s Communist dictatorship, playwright (and, eventually, president) Vaclav Havel helped build the country’s nascent democracy movement through such apparently futile actions as defending a Czech rock band, Plastic People of the Universe, when the authorities broke up their concerts with police raids and sentenced key members to prison. Unexpectedly, the defense committee Havel created to defend the band evolved into the country’s key human rights and democracy group, Charter 77. Later Havel launched a petition, together with other writers and civic activists, to free a group of different political prisoners. Even though they were only asking the president to include the group in a Christmas amnesty, critics said that those who circulated the petition were being “exhibitionistic,” dismissing their motives as nothing more than an attempt “to draw attention to themselves.”

When Havel reflected on the incident seven years later, he acknowledged that they hadn’t succeeded in freeing the prisoners at the time. But he still didn’t think the critics were right. When the prisoners finally got out of jail, they said it had helped them to know that they weren’t alone. This mattered because the movement needed their courageous voices. More importantly, for many of the people who signed the petition, it was their first step in standing up for their beliefs. And it wasn’t their last. They went on to play dissident music, put on dissident plays, speak out in classrooms, preach from pulpits, and challenge the regime in a hundred different ways—until there were so many speaking out that the government couldn’t put them all in jail. Eventually, they brought down the dictatorship without a shot being fired. Had Havel and the others not persevered with efforts that seemed initially fruitless, they’d never have built the movement that ultimately prevailed.

Havel’s story reminds us that even in an apparently losing cause, one person may unknowingly inspire another, and that person yet a third, who may then go on to change the world, or at least a small corner of it. Rosa Parks was part of a similar chain of inspiration. Her husband, a barber named Raymond Parks, co-founded the Montgomery NAACP. After Raymond and Rosa met and married, he convinced her to attend her first NAACP meeting, a key step on the path to her famed stand on the bus a dozen years later. But who first convinced Raymond Parks to speak out, at a time when progress was elusive? Although we’ll probably never know, it almost certainly took a succession of people and conversations. The links in any chain of influence and inspiration are too numerous, too complex to trace them all. But they remind us that, by encouraging others to get involved, we can have a continuing impact through all of their future actions.

Barack Obama himself first became politically involved through exactly this process. It was during the campus anti-apartheid movement, when students at school after school pushed their administrations to divest from companies doing business in South Africa—an effort that Archbishop Desmond Tutu later credited as playing a critical role in securing his country’s freedom. At Occidental College in Los Angeles, a former Green Beret and Vietnam Vet named Gary Chapman transferred in from a community college and created the Student Coalition Against Apartheid. The group held rallies and debates, showed documentaries, brought in speakers, circulated petitions, and marched on their local Bank of America branch. With the help of supportive professors, they even secured a unanimous faculty resolution to divest. But the college trustees—highly conservative Southern California business leaders—refused to go along.

Chapman had just graduated when Obama arrived at Occidental in the fall of 1979, and began working with the Student Coalition, which other students had kept going. Although Obama’s role in the campaign was modest—he helped bring in touring speakers from the African National Congress, attended some organizing meetings, and spoke at a key rally—his involvement opened up a world in which he could connect his actions to his beliefs. Looking back, he credited this experience for laying the foundation for everything that followed, including his considering the vocation of community organizer. Had other students and faculty not taken the risk of standing up for what they believed—thus encouraging Obama’s participation—he might never have started down the path that ultimately led to the presidency, and to all the possibilities that remain for it, and could still be realized if the rest of us become sufficiently involved.

None of us can predict when the causes we support will capture the popular imagination or enlist someone who goes on to do powerful work for justice. “Before water turns to ice,” writes psychologist Joanna Macy, “it looks just the same as before. Then a few crystals form, and suddenly the whole system undergoes cataclysmic change.” Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould developed a theory he calls “punctuated equilibrium.” Rather than occurring at a steady pace, evolution proceeds in fits and starts, Gould argued. Long stretches of relative stasis are followed by brief periods of intense transformation, when many new species appear and others die out. Although attempts to improve social and economic conditions usually proceed incrementally, it is impossible to foretell precisely when any of our endeavors will reach critical mass, and bear unexpected fruits.

The chains of influence created by this stream of human courage almost always have humble beginnings. A few years ago I heard a talk by Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize winner. She described attending a small Catholic college in Atchison, Kansas, where she engaged in conversations about social justice that were critical to her transformation into a social activist. Both fellow students and faculty opened up new worlds to her. They got Maathai thinking about what needed to be done and what she could do. After returning to Kenya to become the first East African woman to get her Ph.D. at the University of Nairobi, she founded the Green Belt Movement, which has planted 40 million trees in an effort to reduce soil erosion. She also challenged the dictatorship of Daniel Arap Moi, demanding multi-party elections and an end to political corruption. The government imprisoned and violently attacked her, but a year after Maathai won the Peace Prize she was elected the first president of the African Union’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council. None of this would have happened, she said, were it not for the conversations with those who’d inspired her when she was in college. As I listened, I wondered what it would be like to have a young Wangari Maathai or Barack Obama sitting next to you, and discovering years later that you’d helped set them on their path.

Adapted from the wholly updated new edition of Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in Challenging Times by Paul Rogat Loeb (St Martin’s Press, publication date April 5, 2010, $16.99 paperback). With over 100,000 copies in print, Soul has become a classic guide to involvement in social change. Howard Zinn calls it “wonderful…rich with specific experience.” Alice Walker says, “The voices Loeb finds demonstrate that courage can be another name for love.” Bill McKibben calls it “a powerful inspiration to citizens acting for environmental sanity.” Loeb also wrote The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear, the History Channel and American Book Association's #3 political book of 2004. HuffPo will serialize selected sections of Soul every Thursday. Sign up here to see previous excerpts or be notified of new ones. For more information or to receive Loeb’s articles directly, see www.paulloeb.org. From Soul of a Citizen by Paul Rogat Loeb. Copyright © 2010 by the author and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Griffin. Permission granted to reprint, forward, or post so long as this copyright line is included.

Cool Event: Belfast Muralists Come to UMass this week!

2010-03-23T13:51:00.002-04:00

Check out this opportunity to meet artists working for social justice!

MURAL PAINTING AT UMASS THIS MARCH AS PART OF PEACE PROCESS
Sponsored by The Art of Conflict Transformation in the north of Ireland/Northern Ireland Event Series

Belfast artists-in-residence at UMass will examine the role of art in the conflict and in the transformation to peace and will collaboratively paint murals for UMass and Springfield communities. These murals are being jointly painted by two artists whose communities were previously at war: Danny Devenny, former Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoner, and Mark Ervine, son of David Ervine, former Progressive Unionist Party leader and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) member.

EVENTS

PAINTING OF UMASS MURAL: Come watch the muralists at work March 26-31 (Friday-Wednesday), Reading Room, Campus Center First Floor, mid-morning to early evening (artist time)

CONTESTED GEOGRAPHIES/SHARED FUTURE: MURAL MAKING IN BELFAST, 1972-2010
Conversation and slide show with muralists Danny Devenny and Mark Ervine
Tuesday, March 30 Cape Cod Lounge, Student Union, 5-7pm, with light refreshments

The artists explore the geography of conflict transformation in the north of Ireland/Northern Ireland where conflict has been expressed through public space and a shared future is still under negotiation.

They present on their separate careers painting murals on Belfast streets, showing slides from some of the 2000 murals they created during the conflict and discussing how they recently came to paint together during the transition to peace.

Co-sponsored by:
Interdisciplinary Seminar in the Humanities and Fine Arts (ISHA).

UNVEILING OF THE UMASS AMHERST MURAL
Monday, April 5 Campus Center Auditorium (changed from #163), 5-7 pm
Join U.S. Congressman Richard E. Neal and other special guests. See the mural unveiled and join the festivities with light refreshments and traditional Irish music.

MURAL PAINTING AT NORTHERN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES, SPRINGFIELD
April 1-8
For details on this event go to: http://mural.umasslegal.org/events/mural-painting/
For more information see: http://mural.umasslegal.org/

Sponsors: UMass Amherst Graduate School, College of Social and Behavior Sciences, Legal Studies Department, Law and Society Initiative, Psychology of Peace and Violence Program, Interdisciplinary Seminar in the Humanities and Fine Arts (ISHA), National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution, Global Horizons/Center for International Education; Falls Community Council; Northern Educational Services Youth Group; PeaceTones/Internet Bar Organization; and Social Justice Mediation Institute.

How does race matter? The Dialogue Project

2010-03-15T13:01:00.003-04:00

As part of our efforts as an anti-racist organization, YAC is teaming up with Leda Cooks and Demetria Shabazz of the Communications Department at UMass Amherst to continue to dialogue about how race matters in society today.

Here is an overview of the project:

On the heels of an historic presidential election, many politicians and pundits want to proclaim the U.S. as a "transracial" nation, a nation beyond the need to identify skin color as a significant marker of difference. Indeed, it seems the current wisdom is that the less we talk about race the more quickly it will disappear. However, as media and community events continually attest, it is not the quantity but the quality of our talk that poses the greatest challenge to eliminating the racial barriers that divide us. This project represents a small step in the investigation of what is a more complex problem within this nation: our goal is to begin a dialogue to examine locally how we construct ethnic and racial identities and consequences for race relations in the Pioneer Valley.

The dialogue project aims to engage people of all races/ethnicities in dialogue about the idea of race and racial identification as embedded in power relations based on skin color that remain very much in existence in the current cultural climate. We will conduct three sequential dialogues with YAC in small groups. Each group will discuss the impact of racial identity on their lives and on the groups with which they identify. We will also look at the ways all groups participate (whether voluntarily or coerced) in whiteness as they struggle to gain footing in a racially stratified society.

There will be a series of three, two-hour dialogues open to all YAC members. The dates are:

Friday March 26, 4-6pm
Friday April 9, 4-6pm
Friday April 30, 4-6pm

Those who participate in the dialogues will then have the option to train as facilitators to bring the dialogue project to other groups, including area high schools.

For more information, please contact Hannah at Youth Action Coalition.

YAC spring session is ramping up!

2010-03-11T12:16:00.004-05:00

Check out our spring session program schedule! If you are interested in joining one of our Arts-for-Change programs, please call the YAC office at (413) 253-2158.

Get Up Get Down
Mon 4-6pm: Core Meeting - Metal shop
Wed 4-6pm: Art studio

GirlsEyeView Ware
Mon 2:45-5pm: Core Meeting
Wed 2:45-5pm: Drop In

GirlsEyeView Amherst
Tues 2:30-5pm, Core Meeting

Video Vanguards
Mon 5:00-8:00pm, Core Meeting
additonal editing days TBA

Education for Liberation at Food For Thought Books
Thursdays 4:00-6:00pm

E4L is open to anyone and everyone - a $5 donation is requested from the general community to support the continuation of the workshops.

Share your YAC story on GreatNonprofits!

2010-02-23T10:30:00.001-05:00

Dear Friends of YAC,

We need you to share your story about Youth Action Coalition! Help raise our profile and give us constructive feedback about your experience with us.

You can help us participate in the Arts Appreciation Campaign by posting a review of your experience with us. This is an exciting opportunity to help Youth Action Coalition make even more of a difference in our community. The GreatNonprofits campaign is designed to find the top-rated nonprofits enriching your community through the arts.

All reviews will be visible to potential donors and volunteers. It’s easy and only takes 3 minutes!
Go to THIS LINK NOW!

Be sure to choose "Arts Appreciation Campaign" from the drop down menu of campaigns in the review template.

For more details: 2010 GreatNonprofits Arts Appreciation Campaign

If you know and love our work then we hope you will tell the world!

Thank you!

Stacey Lennard
YAC Executive Director

PS: Deadline is FEB 28!!

MassMoCA Trip!

2010-02-15T10:45:00.005-05:00

19 people from YAC journeyed up to North Adams for MassMoCA free day this past Saturday - it was an awesome trip! Check out the photos below:

Photos from the Video Vanguards screening!

2010-02-11T10:12:00.006-05:00

Thanks to tk for the wonderful photos!

MC Noalanii introduces the videos

Screenshot from Savana's video

The illustrious media makers!

Go see Nothing's Perfect!

2010-02-08T12:14:00.004-05:00

GirlsEyeView invites you to check out their exhibit, currently on view in the lobby at Amherst Regional Middle School (170 Chestnut St, Amherst).

See the original pages of the zine and original photographs!

The exhibit will be on view through this Friday, the 12th of February. It will then travel to Ware, where it will be up at the Ware Public Library from March 1st through March 12th. Join GEV for the opening in Ware on March 1st from 4-6pm!

Still haven't gotten your copy of the zine? You can buy one now at Food for Thought Books!

This week at YAC!

2010-02-04T15:10:00.003-05:00

We've got a really exciting event coming up this week at YAC - we're taking a field trip to MassMoCA Free Day!

Saturday, February 13th two vans generously provided by the Hampshire College Office of Community Partnerships for Social Change and several cars driven by YAC staff and board members will head up to North Adams to visit the museum. It's a full day trip! It's going to be a great time!

If you are currently involved with YAC and would like to join us on the field trip, please get in touch with Hannah - contact info is available on the YAC website.

Photos from the Pizza Party!

2010-01-28T11:40:00.006-05:00

A great time was had by all at the YAC Pizza Party/Art Share on the 14th! Everyone enjoyed delicious pizza from Antonio's and Bertucci's, cupcakes, and really cool art.

Thanks to Alisa and Jacob for sharing their portfolios (you can see them here and here)...

...to the GEV Amherst participants for bringing their prints and zine pages...

...and to the GEV Ware participants for showing their digital photos!

Upcoming events at YAC!

2010-01-21T15:57:00.005-05:00

There's lots going on here at YAC as we prepare to share all our hard work with the wider community in the next couple weeks!

First up is the Youth Legislative Forum!

As you may or may not know, I, Hannah, am an AmeriCorps member with YouthServe AmeriCorps. Every year YouthServe hosts the Youth Legislative Forum at the end of January in Greenfield. This event gives youth a chance to voice their opinions, ask questions and raise concerns directly to the legislators that represent them in local and state government.

The Forum is next Friday, January 29th, from 3-5pm! All youth are invited to attend.

That same night is the first Video Vanguards screening and cabaret of the year!

Friday, January 29th 2010
6:30-8:30pm in the Amherst College Freidman Room

Join Video Vanguards youth for an evening of brand new video, poetry, dance, music, and education.

mis⋅un⋅der⋅stood[mis-uhn-der-stood]
–adjective
1. improperly understood or interpreted.
2. unappreciated.

How and why we are we MISUNDERSTOOD?
What does it mean and how does it feel to be MISUNDERSTOOD?

Videos explores issues of identity, stereotypes, music, education, access, and teen depression.

Our cabarets feature local artists from the community! If you're a performer, or know of someone locally, we'd love to have you be a part of our cabaret! Poetry, music, dance, anything we'd love to hear what you have to say! The theme is based around what it means to be "misunderstood."

Finally, GirlsEyeView is proud to announce their first show of the year!

GEV Amherst and Ware together invite the community to attend a traveling exhibition of original photography, writing and collage by the GirlsEyeView participants. Called “Nothing’s Perfect”, the project is a homemade zine exploring issues such as feminine beauty in the media, suicide, the environment, and love and relationships. Copies of the completed zine will be available for the public.

The show will happen both in Amherst and Ware, with the schedule as follows:

Amherst:
February 2 – February 12, 2010
Amherst Regional Middle School, 170 Chestnut St., Amherst, MA
Reception: Tuesday, February 2, 5:30-7pm

Ware:
March 1 – March 12, 2010
Ware Public Library, 37 Main St., Ware, MA
Reception: Monday, March 1, 4-6pm

Alumni Survey!

2010-01-11T12:19:00.002-05:00

We're currently conducting a survey of all alumni of our programs, to get a better idea of the long term impact of Youth Action Coalition. The data from the survey will be really useful in grant applications, it will help to ensure the continuation and permanence of YAC in the community.

Please take 10 minutes and help us out. You can take the survey here.

Here's a message to all alumni of our programs, from Executive Director Stacey Lennard:

Hello awesome alumni!

I'm so thrilled to see so many of you back through Facebook. Please help spread the word to others that we're here and looking forward to staying more connected. We hope this will be a space for open dialogue. Please write in with any ideas you'd like to share...

In our effort to hear what you've been up to and how YAC has impacted you, we're asking for your prompt attention to the Alumni Survey that was recently created by Hannah Fjeld, our AmeriCorps member extraordinaire. I am currently writing 3 new grant proposals that ask about our LONG TERM IMPACT ON YOUTH. This is where you're voices are so vital. Your experiences and your stories will help fund the future of our programs!! We greatly appreciate your effort to fill this out soon (grants are due end of Jan!!).

And feel free to drop a line just to say hello!
Stacey

Upcoming events at YAC!

2010-01-07T10:26:00.007-05:00

There are some really exciting events coming up at Youth Action Coalition in the month of January!

This Sunday, January 10th at 4pm, the Leverett Community Chorus is hosting a benefit concert for YAC at the First Congregational Church in Leverett Center. The suggested donation is $8. Under the masterful direction of Anne Louise White, the Leverett Community Chorus will sing a rich repertoire drawing from varied musical traditions, including a gentle Yoruba chant, a traditional Breton Carol, a rousing union anthem, South African freedom songs and more. This intergenerational chorus is a joyful community gathering that has been together for six years.

Our next all-YAC event is on Thursday, January 14th at 5pm at the Bangs Community Center! It's a pizza party and art share, with pizza generously donated by Antonio's in Amherst. This event is a time for the YAC community to come together socially - to hang out, eat some delicious pizza, and talk about our art. There will be a laptop and a projector available to show digital videos, photographs, and other art. You should bring your art to share!

Also coming up soon - a VV screening and cabaret!

MISUNDERSTOOD : Friday, January 29th
6:30-8:30pm in the Amherst College Campus Center Freidman Room

Join Video Vanguards youth for an evening of brand new video, poetry, dance, music, and education.

mis⋅un⋅der⋅stood[mis-uhn-der-stood]
–adjective
1. improperly understood or interpreted.
2. unappreciated.

How and why we are we MISUNDERSTOOD?
What does it mean and how does it feel to be MISUNDERSTOOD?

Our videos explore issues of identity, stereotypes, music, education, access, and teen depression.

Our cabarets feature local artists from the community!

If you’re a performer, or know of someone locally, we'd love to have you be a part of our cabaret! Poetry, music, dance, anything we'd love to hear what you have to say! The theme is based around what it means to be "misunderstood." To get involved in the cabaret or to find out more about Video Vanguards contact: Program Coordinator Sasha Alexander : sasha@youthactioncoalition.org, 856.906.5968 or Noalanii Karakashian : noaniik@gmail.com if you are interested in performing at the cabaret.

The Claw Foot Tub is now selling GEV notecards!

2010-01-04T10:11:00.007-05:00

The Claw Foot Tub, a locally-owned Amherst home furnishings shop, is now selling notecards made by GirlsEyeView! The Claw Foot Tub specializes in fair trade and eco-friendly wares. We're proud to be associated with such a wonderful business.

Please visit The Claw Foot Tub and pick up a GEV notecard while you're there!

Address:
30 Main St.
Amherst, MA

Phone:
(413)253-3500

GirlsEyeView is making a zine!

2009-12-22T13:50:00.007-05:00

A "zine" is a home-made magazine that empowers people who don't necessarily have access to or a voice in traditional news media to share their thoughts, opinions, and artwork with the world. All it takes is some creativity and a copy machine!

This fall our two GirlsEyeView groups are collaborating to create a two-volume zine. These pictures show the Amherst group hard at work making collages about themselves for the first volume of the zine. The second volume will tackle issues that are important to the girls - they've been hard at work taking photos, writing stories and poems, and interviewing their friends and family.

Today the Amherst group will finish up their personal pages and send them over to the group in Ware. A batch of finished pages from Ware will come back to the Amherst group the week after winter vacation. Each group will gain ideas and inspiration from seeing the other group's artwork, and the zine will come together as a cohesive unit.

Stay tuned for images of the pages in process in the coming weeks!

What is YAC, anyway?

2009-12-15T13:32:00.002-05:00

New to the Youth Action Coalition? Here's where you can learn a little more about who we are and what we do.

What is YAC?
Youth Action Coalition (YAC) is a community-based non-profit organization promoting youth empowerment through creative expression and social action projects. We pair intensive arts immersion with social justice education, working with youth to foster their natural talents as artists and build on their strengths as community leaders and agents of change. YAC is based in Amherst, Massachusetts.

What does YAC do?
YAC runs four afterschool programs geared for middle and high school-aged youth in Amherst, Ware and the surrounding towns.

GirlsEyeView (GEV) offers a supportive and creative space for young women to express themselves through photography and creative writing. GEV has two locations - Amherst and Ware.

In Amherst, GEV is for middle school girls. At GEV Amherst we work with black and white manual photography, shooting pictures and then developing them ourselves in the darkroom.

In Ware, GEV is for both middle and high school girls. Here we work with digital photography, processing and improving our photos using Adobe Photoshop.

Both GEV programs also do creative writing - this year we are working with a couple of UMass MFA students. Stay tuned for a blog post introducing them!

Video Vanguards (VV) works with youth of color and their allies as they empower themselves while exploring the issues that they deal with everyday and express themselves through making media.

VV participants learn to produce video using FinalCut, a professional quality editing software. You can check out some VV videos on YouTube!

Get Up Get Down (GUGD) focuses on creating art through activism and activism through public art.

We explore a variety of art forms — from murals to metal working, sidewalk art to gallery work — investigating issues that are relevant to youth and our communities. We expand our skills as community organizers through trainings and hands-on work in the community, and build our leadership by organizing and facilitating talk-backs about our work. Speak your mind through public art!

Check out YAC's website where you can find more information, and a link to donate to help support our work.

YAC is now blogging!

2009-12-15T13:19:00.003-05:00

As part of consolidating our online presence, YAC is now going to keep you up to date on what's going on with our programs and our peoples with our blog!

Stay tuned for a couple updates each week, about what's happening at GirlsEyeView, Video Vanguards, and Get Up Get Down, as well as a bunch of all-YAC events that are in the works right now!

Please feel free to comment on our posts. Use the link to email them to your friends or post them to your Facebook profile!

Check back often!