Center For Arts & Equity
Power Of Truths
Arts & Education Festival
Part educational conference, part arts festival and part homage to the history of social activism in western Massachusetts, this two-day event brings community members together with the goal of working towards a more just future.
~ Zydalis Bauer, New England Public Media
April 29-30, 2023
The Power of Truths Arts & Education Festival envisions a world where arts and education are utilized to bring about communities where justice and equity are the standards, not outliers. We center the practice that the arts and humanities are powerful tools to envision and create a more just world.
The 2nd Annual Power of Truths Arts & Education Festival builds on the previous year’s event with even more thought provoking and inspiring presenters, performances, talks, panels, and workshops with the purpose of inspiring educators and learners to focus on the intersections between arts and education as tools for power that build toward a just and equitable society.
The 2nd Annual Power of Truths Arts & Education Festival builds on the previous year’s event with even more thought provoking and inspiring presenters, performances, talks, panels, and workshops with the purpose of inspiring educators and learners to focus on the intersections between arts and education as tools for power that build toward a just and equitable society.
Saturday Lineup
10AM - 5PM workshop, keynote, and panel sessions
Loretta Ross
Akrobatik
Ousmane Power-Greene
Michael Lawrence-Riddell
Bayeté Ross Smith
Saturday Schedule
10:00 AM
REGISTRATION / CHECK IN
10:45 AM
OPENING WORDS (Sanctuary)
11:00 AM
Join Professor Loretta J. Ross as she examines how social justice and human rights organizations are challenged from within by toxic tendencies that compromise their ability to stay focused on defeating the forces of injustice. This presentation will focus on strategies to counter these negative behaviors and transform our desire for justice into human rights-centered behaviors consistent with our values.
Session 1 (Sanctuary) | Calling In the Calling Out Culture
11:00 AM
Join Ibrahim Ali, former executive director of Gardening the Community, Justin Beatty, founder of the Odenong Powwow, and others in a discussion about the importance of land in America’s history, present, and future
Session 1 (Peacock Room) | Beyond Acknowledgement: This Land is Who’s Land?
11:00 AM
Naomi Greene, an artist, and Ousmane Power-Greene, a novelist and Black Studies scholar, will lead a presentation about their experiences creating art and literature in the digital age. They will explore how black artistic expression has been, and continues to be, archived online and in social media. This presentation will consider how these works contribute to the global struggle for human rights and against racial injustice. Additionally, they will discuss the limitations of digital and online media in conveying national narratives of hope in the face of ongoing racial injustice.
Session 1 (Music Room) | Artists & Writers Engaged in the global struggle for Human Rights and Racial Justice
12:15 PM
LUNCH
1:15 PM
The idea of and case for reparations is not new. The conversation around this issue is, however, at the forefront of many people’s minds. Join professors Ousmane Power-Greene and Tatishe Nteta as they discuss aspects of American reparations as they relate to our local community and national issues.
Session 2 (Peacock Room) | 40 Acres or So – American Reparations
1:15 PM
Public muralist Rochelle Shicoff has been involved in many powerful public art projects. Locally, the Hestia Mural, is an example of her work. She is in the midst of creating a mural that will be painted in Florence and will tell important parts of Florence’s past, present, and future. Join her to hear about this exciting work and learn how you can be involved.
Session 2 (Music Room) | Public Art as Historical Storytelling: Rochelle Shicoff
2:45 PM
Join artist and educator Bayeté Ross Smith, the current Artist in residence at Columbia Law School, as he discusses and shares pieces of his work using art to engage with the legal community in complex and critical conversations about social justice issues.
Session 3 (Peacock Room) | The Art of Justice
2:45 PM
Change must come from the youth. They are best positioned to think freshly about the challenges facing contemporary societies and they have the creativity to think in new ways. Join a dedicated group of young people who have visions of how the world could be better and are acting on those visions. Prepare to leave inspired.
Session 3 (Music Room) | Youth Voices for Change
4:15 PM
Boston Hiphop legend and UMass-Boston professor Akrobatik and University of Hartford professor Markeysha Davis will discuss the political power of Hiphop culture and the place that Hiphop’s history can and should play in classroom spaces.
Session 4 (Peacock Room) | HipHop in the Classroom: Hiphop History and Hiphop as History
4:15 PM
Change must come from the youth. They are best positioned to think freshly about the challenges facing contemporary societies and they have the creativity to think in new ways. Join a dedicated group of young people who have visions of how the world could be better and are acting on those visions. Prepare to leave inspired.
Session 4 (Music Room) | Youth Voices for Change
Know The Ledge
Hiphop History Live | 7 - 10 PM
Join us for an evening of storytelling, music, and dance as we bring together amazing artists from multiple disciplines to tell important and often overlooked stories from the history of our country. Part theatre, part history lesson, part Hiphop music, join artists Akrobatik; members of Fire in Little Africa – written Quincey, Krisheena Suarez, and iamDES; Marcia Gomes; Khalif Neville; Dutch ReBelle, and more for an intense and entertaining trip through history.
Know the Ledge: Hiphop History Live will be followed by the premiere of Self-Evident Education's newest film, "If You Cross This Boundary, We All Die”. The film is about famed abolitionists Ellen & William Craft, who escaped enslavement through Mrs. Craft's passing as the white male owner of Mr. Craft.
Know the Ledge: Hiphop History Live will be followed by the premiere of Self-Evident Education's newest film, "If You Cross This Boundary, We All Die”. The film is about famed abolitionists Ellen & William Craft, who escaped enslavement through Mrs. Craft's passing as the white male owner of Mr. Craft.
iamDES
Krisheena Suarez
Written Quincey
Dutch ReBelle
Khalif Neville
Marcia Gomes
Akrobatik
Sunday Lineup
11AM - 4PM workshopS and panel sessions
Tiffany Jewell
Ilyon Woo
Kellie Carter Jackson
Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor
Sunday Schedule
11:00 AM
REGISTRATION / CHECK IN
12:00 PM
OPENING WORDS (Sanctuary)
12:15 PM
A conversation among educators and caregivers of color in our community, with Tiffany Jewell and others.
Session 1 (Sanctuary) | High Five Books Presents: Big Issues, Small Hearts: Honoring Kids' Curiosity About The Messy world Around Them
12:15 PM
Join educators from multiple levels, including Michael Lawrence-Riddell, Lina Patel, Sophia Sarigianides, and others, to discuss why it is important to teach accurate and honest history and to consider how to do it in ways that are responsible, democratic, and just.
Session 1 (Peacock Room) | Teaching Accurate and Honest History to All Learners
12:15 PM
Public muralist Rochelle Shicoff has been involved in many powerful public art projects. Locally, the Hestia Mural, is an example of her work. She is in the midst of creating a mural that will be painted in Florence and will tell important parts of Florence’s past, present, and future. Join her to hear about this exciting work and learn how you can be involved.
Session 1 (Music Room) | Public Art as Historical Storytelling: Rochelle Shicoff
1:30 PM
A conversation among scholars about "If You Cross This Boundary, We All Die" and the lives and legacies of Ellen and William Craft, with Kellie Carter Jackson, Ilyon Woo, and Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor.
Session 2 (Sanctuary) | A Thousand Miles of Freedom
2:45 PM
We will close the festival by honoring the life and legacies of John H. Bracey, a titan of education and truth. We will synthesize the experience of the two days of the festival and help our audience think about next steps to continue in the spirit of power and truth.
Session 3 (Sanctuary) | Power and Truth: the Inaugural John H. Bracey Symposium
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