Participants are encouraged to view the panel recording of Decolonizing the Arts Classroom in advance of attending either workshop in this series.
Advanced registration is required. This event to open to members and non-members.
**PLEASE NOTE: These events will NOT be recorded to create a space for open and free dialogue between participants.
PART I: Decentering Whiteness in Arts Education
Monday, September 20, 2021 // 5:30pm – 7pm ET
Decentering whiteness in our classrooms requires much more than teaching “diverse art.” In this interactive workshop, Alisha Mernick will facilitate dialogue about the history of white supremacy in art education, discuss the ways in which traditional multiculturalism in art education continues to center whiteness and cause harm, and support educators in naming and dismantling the implicit eurocentricity and white supremacy in their own classrooms. Come prepared for reflection, and dialogue.
This workshop is part of a NYC Roundtable series on Arts Education Toward Decolonization. Participants are encouraged to view the panel recording of Decolonizing the Arts Classroom in advance of this workshop, as well as sign up for the following session on Decolonizing Arts Education facilitated by Emi Aguilar.
Part II: Decolonizing Arts Education
Thursday, September 23 // 5:30 – 7:00pm ET
In this workshop, Emi Aguilar will invite participants to engage in reflection, writing, and discussion as we work collaboratively toward decolonizing arts education practice. Emi will scaffold participants learning with a foundation in an Indigenous educator perspective. This workshop will intentionally de-center European and colonial understandings of teaching and learning. Participants will co-create a toolkit to begin their actionable work in decolonizing arts education within K-12 and community-based learning spaces.
This workshop is part of a NYC Roundtable series on Arts Education Toward Decolonization. Participants are encouraged to view the panel recording of Decolonizing the Arts Classroom in advance of this workshop, as well as sign up for the preceding session on Decentering Whiteness in Arts Education facilitated by Alisha Mernick.
Facilitators
Alisha Mernick is a Visual Art and Social Justice Educator based in Los Angeles, CA. She holds her MA in Art Education from NYU, and has been implementing liberatory, critical arts pedagogy in the k-12 classroom for over a decade. She specializes in using art making to engage students in a critical analysis of issues of identity, social justice, anti-racism, and civic engagement. Alisha has served on the National Art Education Associations Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Task Force, and is currently serving as a California Art Education Association EDI Commissioner and Southern Area President.
Emi Aguilar is a Coahuiltecan Arts Educator, community organizer, and multidisciplinary artist, based among the Coahuiltecan homelands where her people have resided for over 14,000 years (or, what is recently known as Central Texas to Northern Mexico). She holds her MFA in Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities from The University of Texas at Austin. In her 8th year of teaching, she specializes in Indigenous arts integration, digital storytelling as a community-affirming practice, and Indigenizing storytelling. More information at emxaguilar.net and @IndigenizingArtsEd on Instagram.
