Mask-making workshop

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!

Exciting Upcoming Events this weekend!!!

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!

Photos from the Pizza Party!

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!

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

The Claw Foot Tub is now selling GEV notecards!

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!

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!

YAC is now blogging!

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!