Arts in Action

The Racial Unity Team helps build awareness and educate New Hampshire school students about diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. NH legislators are questioning the value of academic studies of our history of discrimination. Legislation has been written stating that “diversity education is divisive;” whereas, the common goals of our teachers, RŪT, and the curricula are to help students to do heart work while building their knowledge of ways that the status quo hurts all of us and especially people of diverse races and ethnicities.

• We want to broaden student access to multicultural artistic and cultural experiences .
• We invite teachers to be part of the leadership in order to institutionalize and advance the influence of the Arts in Action project. 
• We want to make a difference in students’ becoming upstanders when they see injustice. 
• We want to assist in their learning to govern their voices - encourage people to listen to them through conversation, not argument. 
• We provide ways to find commonalities with others to find solutions to problems, speak out against bullying, write a letter to the editor or to a company concerning an injustice, or to stand up to friend who is practicing bias or discrimination. 

We hope everyone involved will be inspired to read books and see movies of multicultural artists and about diverse characters and figures in society who are not like themselves and will act to bring change for the better in the communities they live in.  

The DEIJ - diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice - initiative across SAU 16 has recently taken on more focus, structure and form. Three teachers have collaborated to reset their lenses and ask the tough questions about how and what they teach with DEIJ in mind.

This year, they have partnered with Racial Unity Team (RUT) to transform how they perceive and teach the classic novel written by Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel has been the subject of conversation in countless classrooms for six decades. Magliozzi and Peterson, both English Teachers, have been working with Mockingbird for 10 years at Exeter High School. Despite their best efforts, they could not find a way they felt cast the discussion about issues of race and equity in a

way they felt worked well. This year, one of their goals when reading Mockingbird is to critically examine why Harper Lee focuses on certain characters and round out those whose stories are not told. This move to look at the novel through the lens of underrepresented characters in the book has served as an entry point into critical conversations about race and equity.

When aligning this approach to a world view in 2021 versus one from a small Alabama town in 1960, it is clear there are real shortcomings in the book as a solo unit. It didn't do what the teachers hoped it to do by

itself, but there was great potential to leverage it. “In some ways, we can see Harper Lee’s novel as her attempt at using art to change the world,” Peterson said, “and we want our students to do the same.” That’s when the lightbulb went off in terms of curriculum – the teachers began to team up to use Mockingbird as a piece from which to launch their students into action research. 

Their approach became to study Atticus Finch’s world view by asking students questions such as these:

● Have we realized his vision for justice in the United States?

● If so, how?

● If not, what changes can we make to get there?

● What change do you want to see in the world?

● How can you affect that change?

From there, students are invited to create art as a form of expression to further their impact. That’s where Adam Krauss, ELO Coordinator in the school, joined the mission. Krauss helped Peterson and Magliozzi

join forces with several mentor artists from The Racial Unity Team. This partnership allowed students to hear from individuals who shared how they and others use art to make an impact on the world, and how

they grapple with the realities of being Black in America. Working side by side with these artists, students are learning to govern their voices and use art to inspire others. The final component of the student work is – with the help of the mentor artists – to turn their research for social change into art for social change.

Power opens up doors or prevents doors from opening. In this work three central things play out in this project: the injection of these professionals and their voices empowers students to claim voices of their own; the initial collaboration between these three teachers has led to collaboration among other colleagues and members of the community; and the resulting creative expression, which can be through art, music and/or the written or spoken word. 

Krauss, Magliozzi, and Peterson are trying hard not to send the message that one voice is the end all be all. “Our students have just as much agency in this project and conversation as we do as their guide on the side,” said Krauss. Students have just as much power to criticize, challenge, and change their world – our shared world – as everyone else involved in their education. That’s equity and inclusion at work. It’s a vision for justice Atticus couldn’t attain. But lifting up voices, ensuring people from all backgrounds and experiences are welcomed and their stories are heard – that is a vision for justice that all teachers can

champion.

I write this letter of support after a semester of working with 110 students as our school and the Racial Unity Team partner on a NHSCA pilot project initiative. At least three things are clear: 1. students are hooked - learning, reflecting and hungry for change; 2. we're growing professionally while our school enhances culturally; 3. the success from the past few months has us in a position to partner with neighboring schools in the service of expanded justice studies, equitable outcomes, and the creation of a student-centered network focused on agency and social change.

I'd like to elaborate on the point about students. Today I was talking with one of our students about what she enjoys about school, and she remarked how surprised she was to be doing such an "official" project. I asked what she meant, and she explained she wasn't used to school work involving real-world topics with professional artists and leaders in a way that put her voice and ambition at the center of the experience. 

That's what this project has been about: connecting students not only to the world and people around them, but also, to the fires brewing in them - the fires that make them want to ask our artist-mentors how young people can find and use their voices. That a curriculum existed to support this and that there were teachers open to adapting and innovating where needed and possible to ensure we fan those flames is another facet that we will not overlook. Equally compelling is the institutional backdrop that this has played out as our district bolsters our work around diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice.

As a result we have students getting peers to think about constitutional quandaries found in the Pledge of Allegiance, wanting to change the uniform standards governing female athletes, pushing for social-media "fasts" in service of improved personal and social well-being, as well as considering the impacts of "cancel culture," re-imagining the current structure and goals of public education, and asking others to consider their word choice in everyday interactions.

Thanks to your support, we have identified the various nexus points between these ideas and pedagogical strands and are excited to share what we have learned with colleagues and learners in another district. That is, after all, the purpose of education: to share our passions and knowledge so that more people tomorrow benefit from what we learned today.

With this experience as the focal point, we bring practiced perspective, vetted resources, shared ideals and devotion to working together toward them, along with what happily feels like a bottomless well of commitment and enthusiasm to doing the work it takes to make it happen. Thank you to all who have been involved and to you for considering our re-application.

Sincerely, Adam Krauss, CAGS, Exeter High School, Extended Learning Opportunities, Coordinator and Class of 2024

May 14, 2021

The Racial Unity Team of NH has been granted $7,500 by the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts to deliver a program that gives youth support in creating songs of community. The Kennebunk Savings Bank has also contributed to the Team’s project at the level of Official Sponsor. Participants may apply the genres of spoken word, rap, hip hop, or lyrics to songs in a creation of their own to express the value of our racially diverse population.  We’re also pleased to join Exeter High School as “artists in residence” to begin working in the classroom on this exciting collaborative project. 

As with community and protest songwriters of the past, the young composers will critique what needs repair, then use music as a universal, non-threatening language through which to share what they know best—their own stories and what they see happening around them. The course seeks their creative vision of a world without racism.

Students will be asked to add new lines to classic songs to adapt them to today’s oppressions and the changes they want to see. Then they’ll be asked, “What has stood in your way or your friend’s way to becoming the best you/they can be? What would the road to justice and fairness look like?” 

Creative visioning in the project “Spoken Word and Song Writing for Social Change” will counter current racist commentary heard in newscasts. Student truths revealed in lyrics and poetry have the potential to tear down stereotypes, open our hearts and imaginations toward understanding the ways we under-serve black and brown citizens. This “Arts in Health NHSCA Project Grant” can open eyes to see how we grow stronger with equitable resources, how we all benefit when everyone is given the chance to grow and thrive in school, workplace, town and neighborhood. 

Those interested in hearing more about the class and/or having interest in joining this class should email us at racialunityteam1@gmail.com 

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