Spokane Arts partners with EWU for Black History Month

CHENEY – Shantell Jackson, program director for the Spokane Arts, is teaming up with Eastern Washington University’s (EWU) Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies (GWSS) to host two programs aimed at educating students, staff and the Cheney community about healing within the black community as part of Black History Month.

Jackson is a visual storyteller and writer and has been the Spokane Arts program director since October 2021. This year, Jackson serves as GWSS’s ninth annual Activist in Residence.

“I am very excited for the opportunity to be the Activist for 2022,” Jackson said in a Jan. 25 press release. “My love for black humanity and justice for all has created a passion for working to heal myself, my community and those around me.”

Jackson has two opportunities for the Cheney community to get involved in Black History Month. The first is through a series of weekly virtual community forums that started on Wednesday, Jan. 26, and run every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.(except Feb. 23). The forums combine workshops and panels that encourage high amounts of participation and storytelling.

The theme for the workshop on Feb.16 is Power and Privilege in Activist Communities: For Better or Worse. On March 2, it’s Intersections of Identity: Individual & Collective Healing.

The second is through a poster/social media design contest. The contest is in conjunction with Sonja Durr’s Visual Communication Design for Social Change course.

The assignment is to take an important issue or intersectional figure and depict something visually that educates or inspires the Cheney population.

Another goal of this project is to allow designers to exercise agency while practicing social impact design within their communities.

Willing participants can register for free at ewu.edu/air2022. The community and press are eagerly encouraged to attend.

 

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