Youth Voice Matters

Why Youth Voice Matters in Arts Education

A workshop at Drew University highlights the importance of nurturing youth voice and imagination — and giving young people space to envision change.

Many years before I became an arts educator, believing that rap and holding up a lens for people to see a different perspective of the world could effect change, I was an undergraduate student still trying to understand that very same world and my place in it. 

At that time, I didn’t envision myself as an activist or that my love of hip-hop would blossom into  an international career as an emcee, educator, researcher and community scholar. What I did know, however, was through my study of not only the culture of hip-hop but also the long history of civil rights and hip-hop’s fight against colonialism and imperialism; people not much older than me and even some that were my age had used their voice to stand against institutional and systemic power. 

These discoveries were powerful and transformative, inspiring and motivating me to pursue my dreams and believe that what I had to say and my knowledge were valuable and necessary to share, in whatever medium I ultimately would choose. One of my longtime mentors, Dr. Diane Hardgrave was my earliest champion, model and guide, creating the space in her classroom for me to explore how I could use my voice to do the very things I read about the Black Panthers, Young Lords and AIM doing for their communities.

While I had the impetus, though, I didn’t fully have the belief. And until Dr. Hardgraves I didn’t have the mentorship to instill that confidence or, just as importantly, fill in the gaps of knowledge I had and show me how art and social change are inextricably intertwined and essential to contextualizing, energizing and galvanizing movements. It was in college where my awakening to the role of art in these movements occurred, and it was with Dr. Hardgrave and at my undergrad Marist College where I found the environment to start me on the path that I am on today. 

I was reflecting on all of this as I made my way to Drew University to work with Professor Mecca Madyun and her students. Professor Madyun is a West African Dance practitioner, scholar and co-director of the Center for Civic Engagement at the university. In her summer course Love: Bridging the Relationship between Self & Community she asks students to 

“share their own community histories to deepen the understanding of the development of self within the context of responsibility for family, community, and society. Through investigating current events and social issues and using critical history as a tool for understanding culture, identity, and power, students navigate multiple perspectives, difficult conversations, various forms and styles of leadership, and civic duty.”

The summer course is specifically offered to incoming first semester students and, per the course description, it is an

“arts based workshop utilizing research, and community partner/Artivists experiences that support exploration of social justice frameworks/concepts to generate critical dialogue and intensive reflection practice for developing personal values, mission, and vision statements and informed action plans to effect transformational change within one’s spheres (personal, familial, community, world).”

This was my second year working with students at Drew University. Professor Madyun invited me for the second time to campus to lead an interactive workshop to support the young people as they built their personal mission statements. I started with three community agreements: that we would respect each other’s personal truth, that we would use kind speech and that we would show up in our actions and activities to the best of our abilities.

From there, we looked at two of my favorite artists, Rapsody and Nikki Giovanni. I chose both women because of their unapologetic stance against injustice in their work, but also because the freestyle that Rapsody performs is both personal and political. I used Nikki’s piece “A Very Simple Wish” to set up the prompt for the class.

To start off, however, I asked the students to free-write about something they’d like to see changed in the world, or people who they felt were forgotten or needed help. We shared as a group before we looked at the two pieces, and everyone’s reflections were thoughtful and timely. The group generally had deep concerns around our civil liberties, our familial connections and the generational traumas that were eroding their communities. Almost none of them were artists or poets, but from observation they all had deep-rooted ideas and feelings around the world they wanted to see. 

After we discussed each piece, I revealed the prompt, which was to create their own manifesto, stylized around Nikki’s poem. In “A Very Simple Wish,” Nikki lists several injustices, and then offers solutions to each through a wish. The wishes are detailed actions, some literal, some creative, but the poem serves as her personal manifesto and mandate for the world.

The students, after the allotted time, all wanted to share their wants and wishes for the world. We had time for only a few of the students to express their wishes (virtually the entire class wanted to share), but the moment was beautiful and powerful. One student discussed how he wanted to address family trauma to build a stronger community with one another. Another student expressed a wish to end gender violence.

The common line throughout all of their manifestos was that they believed they could bring about change, through their words and their actions. The workshop showed me how much these students were ready and willing to effect change for themselves and their communities.

The younger generations in the social media era have been much maligned for their seeming lack of work ethic or awareness. Public opinion has seen many unresearched takes on whether or not the next generation will be able to lead and handle the difficult future they are faced with. Even with so many examples to the contrary, sadly this narrative persists. If my afternoon with Dr. Madyun’s class affirmed something for me, it’s that if we provide the space, the guidance and the inspiration for young people, we absolutely have a chance for a brighter future.