Keywords: Agency and Diligence
There are hundreds of things I could write about in regards to the trip our team from Progressive Arts Alliance took to Cambridge, MA this past month. Things like how inspiring the Boston area was, what it felt like to be at MIT and Harvard (the big dogs), or given such little time, how much was accomplished. However, I would like to focus on the effect of one conversation in particular as I think it clearly elicits the quality of information gained on this trip.
On Thursday our PAA team met with Edward Clapp, a member of the Agency by Design team that is part of Harvard’s Project Zero. During our conversation, we had a chance to cover a few topics, but two things really stuck with me. The idea of having and creating agency among students, and being diligent in that creation of agency. As an artist-educator for Progressive Arts Alliance, I take on the the challenge of developing new residencies to lead in Cleveland schools. Though this might sound slightly ridiculous, the biggest challenge I face in developing these projects (and I think many of the other artist-educators face a similar one) is the question “Could this really happen?”
After talking to Edward at length about what PAA is doing, what we have done, and about the results and personal inferences gained from my projects I came to a firm conclusion:
Testing the boundaries of what is realistic, what isn’t, and what might seem insane is what makes the PAA experience amazing. Allowing myself to be vigilant, to not make the project easier, to expect a high quality result in each of these residencies has not only noticeably increased confidence in many of my students, but has also helped them to find new voices and agency in those voices. Striving towards something that may seem impossible today will be among the first steps to making it a reality in the future.
