Express Yourself Milwaukee strives to provide a healthy and productive environment for its youth, which begins with enabling harmonious collaboration among the artistic leaders and adults. It can be challenging to coordinate objectives among many artists but the dynamic energy and high artistic standards that result from successful collaboration are well worth the effort. The positive effects of this collaboration ripple out to the youth and even further into the community. Vance said: \u201cI tend to draw around me people that are pretty self-directed and it\u2019s hard for us to collaborate. And so to figure out how to do that also makes change in society. If we can figure out how to get beyond some of our challenges and make it work that\u2019s a great example for kids on a real, direct level but also really changes the environment that we all live in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Vance\u2019s educational background is in art therapy and the mission of Express Yourself Milwaukee has formal therapeutic underpinnings that make their work accountable to treatment plans for the youth with whom they work. Express Yourself is partnered with the art therapy program at Mt. Mary College and works regularly with interns from the program. This therapy-based approach allows EYM to work with youth from correctional facilities and other institutions that require medical treatment plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The EYM youth come to feel naturally safe with adults who, while acting as role models, also work with them side by side on artistic projects. The youth feel remarkably comfortable with Currie and will often jokingly give him a hard time as they get to know him. Collaboration is beneficial to both the youth and the artists helping them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EYM\u2019s projects are based on an idea of artistic exchange between artists and young people, and not meant only as a situation in which artists are teaching their craft. Vance has noticed through the years that however the artists\u2019 work in their given media becomes influenced and inspired by the work they do at EYM. Themes and techniques explored with the children start to show up in the artwork they do outside of the program. Working with the kids and EYM\u2019s Artistic Team has been a fulfilling experience for Currie. \u201cYou know, as an artist and as an educator it\u2019s a really strong support system for me here in the city. So it\u2019s a big reason why I want to stay [in Milwaukee].\u201d Creating safe environments for artistic expression is especially significant for at-risk youth in our city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The winter studio schedule began in January and continues through May, with monthly Saturday workshops featuring special topics: puppet making, set design, and a visit from Amlak Tafari of the band Steel Pulse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Milwaukee<\/strong>When asked about their hopes and fears for Milwaukee, Vance and Currie had mixed responses. Vance has the impression of herself as wide-eyed and optimistic, feeling she should be more jaded as she confronts the city\u2019s problems. She cited the fact that 70% of youth in the Wisconsin juvenile correctional system are from Milwaukee. And as Milwaukee gets press for being the 4th poorest city in America and now the most racially segregated city in the nation, Express Yourself Milwaukee is taking on the gigantic task of \u201creducing the sense of isolation and disenfranchisement [many of Milwaukee\u2019s young people] have grown accustomed to feeling\u201d (quoted from EYM\u2019s website).<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Currie states, \u201cWorking with Express Yourself opens your eyes to the inequalities that exist in the city. We\u2019ve lost students to gun violence and other sorts of bad situations. It\u2019s really, in my estimation, a rough place to grow up, or can be, depending on who you are, how much money you have, the color of your skin.\u201d But he continued to describe Milwaukee as his second home and his neighborhood of Riverwest as Mr. Rogers\u2019 neighborhood with an edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both Currie and Vance maintain a sense of hope and excitement in their work while simultaneously having a nuanced and realistic awareness of Milwaukee\u2019s deep problems, which is no easy feat when battling such entrenched and long-standing societal obstacles their youth must face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Media Literacy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a> Part of the battle in confronting a society that does not value you and provides you with limited opportunity is deconstructing the media that disseminates the prejudiced value-system. Currie finds that dissection of the processes behind media construction is a vital component of his work with the young people of Express Yourself. One project involved youth at a juvenile correction center and younger students collaborating on an animation piece. Because it is against the law to publicize the faces of youth in detention, Currie used the animation technique of rotoscoping as a way to obfuscate their identify while keeping visible their performance of dance steps learned from the dance troupe STOMP. He brought the footage to a younger group of kids and worked on coloring each video frame taken of the dance. When each colored frame is then played in rapid succession, the illusion of motion is created. We are given the opportunity to see the dance and the creative energy displayed by the youth in detention; they become agents in a positive and community-realized depiction of themselves, which is in direct opposition to the ways in which such youth are usually portrayed in the media. Vance emphasizes the importance of this process: \u201cThese kids are so beautiful\u2026We don\u2019t see them as beautiful kids for the most part \u2013 on a social level, on a community level. We want to lock them up and pretend they don\u2019t exist\u2026[We] tend to see them for what their challenges are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s such a power in media to influence and it\u2019s so often put to some strange uses,\u201d Currie continues. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing better in improving your understanding of viewpoint and perspective and using [media] as a bully pulpit than knowing how it\u2019s made. That kind of deconstruction takes away some of the power.\u201d Currie hopes by teaching the tools of media making to young people they will become more able to defend themselves against the influential power of damaging messages. And after you know how something is made, \u201cyou have the power to make it yourself and put out your own viewpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Walker\u2019s Budget<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The recent controversy over Governor Scott Walker\u2019s budget and policies has left Vance wary of the future. Although EYM has a diverse funding base, including the Non-Profit Management Fund and the Helen Bader Foundation, much of their programming is made possible through contracts with the State. EYM provides unique social services that supplement many governmental programs, working with Milwaukee Public Schools and the State of Wisconsin Department of Corrections. But the funding used to contract with EYM will most likely be cut from Walker\u2019s budget, taking valuable artistic experiences away from children and young people who most need them.Process-Product<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Making a peace tree leaf (photo courtesy of Express Yourself Milwaukee) Currie led a collaboration between elementary school students and his Advanced Video class at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design on the production of a video called \u201cBlackhole Sun.\u201d The project originated with a drawing by an artistic team leaders\u2019 nine-year-old child. The drawing depicts a figure picking the sun up off the ground after it has fallen and left a mark on the earth. The sun is surrounded by small blue stick figures enacting different motions around the fallen sun and human figure. A group of students at the Eighth Street School came up with a basic story for the picture and later scripted and created storyboards for it. Using the script and storyboards by the students, the Advanced Video students produced the final animation. Currie explained, \u201cIt went from this little kid\u2019s photograph to a group of high school students working heavily in pre-production, and really getting their imaginations going, and then taking it to MIAD, where advanced students get a chance to realize the vision in service, really, and in collaboration. I love that. And that\u2019s what I\u2019m shooting for from now on in my work for \u201cExpress Yourself,\u201d is finding those kinds of exchanges.\u201dJamal very much enjoyed the inter-age collaboration among groups of students who never met during the process\u2013\u2013one type of correspondence; but no matter the approach, \u201cExpress Yourself\u201d emphasizes the process of art-making over the final product, allowing participants to find joy in creative self-expression. Jamal and Lori were both surprised by the seriousness that the students brought to the critique of the final \u201cBlackhole Sun\u201d video, remarking that it matched the rigor of a formal art-school critique. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While focusing on process underlies all of EYM\u2019s approaches, it is never more apparent to the EYM leaders than when the youth prepare for the final performance at the end of the semester.Performance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 2008 Performance, “Celebrate” (photo courtesy of Express Yourself Milwaukee) The culmination of the performance is as much about the youth developing confidence in their abilities to produce art as having a chance to show off their talents onstage. Lori explained that many youth, when first entering EYM, feel that they can\u2019t or don\u2019t know how to make art. The artistic team leaders encourage them by gradually introducing them to new techniques. If they are comfortable with painting, but not as familiar with dancing, artistic team leaders will suggest one dance move, for example, that can then influence the way they move their paintbrush. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The students\u2019 attitudes about their own abilities to produce art, then, change significantly as they spend time in the program, and the year-end performance is a chance for the youth to demonstrate their self-confidence and their talent.\u00a0\u00a0Jamal Currie said: \u201cSome of those kids, once they have that audience, they go, they shine. It\u2019s just incredible.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0This semester\u2019s culminating performance is scheduled for May 12th at the Humphrey Scottish Rite Center, with an open dress rehearsal at 12:00pm and performance at 6:00pm.\u00a0\u00a0Admission is free but\u00a0donations\u00a0are most welcome.As Wisconsin cultural institutions and arts programs are defunded in favor of highway expansion and tax cuts for the wealthiest, community support for Milwaukee organizations such as EYM is critical.\u00a0\u00a0Attend Express Yourself Milwaukee\u2019s performance and witness positive change made possible by the arts and social services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Express Yourself Milwaukee is a unique social program that connects at-risk youth with established local artists.\u00a0 One quick look at the photographs on EYM\u2019s\u00a0Facebook page\u00a0shows just what it means to the kids to be a part of the program.\u00a0\u00a0Their smiles jump off the screen and, in that moment, one can glimpse the positive impact that … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.snapmilwaukee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.snapmilwaukee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.snapmilwaukee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.snapmilwaukee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.snapmilwaukee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.snapmilwaukee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.snapmilwaukee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions\/16"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.snapmilwaukee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.snapmilwaukee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.snapmilwaukee.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
2009 Performance, “Bounce” (photo courtesy of Express Yourself Milwaukee)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20180815071146\/http:\/\/www.snapmilwaukee.com\/eym\/Bounce2.jpg?attredirects=0\" "\\"\\"")
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The process of art-making within EYM is much more than the means to an end. It is a therapeutic engagement with aesthetics, a way to build bridges across socioeconomic groups and ages, and an important space for personal reflection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The weeks leading up to the performance are often demanding. Vance and Currie talked about the value of this challenge for the EYM youth and how important it is that they have a chance to be seen for their talent as opposed to the societal challenges that usually define them in the eyes of the public. Lori Vance stated that \u201cthe community tends to see them for what their challenges are\u2013[alternatively, at the performances, the community] can sit there and be witness to the incredible gifts these kids have.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n