Students Against Hate

STUDENTS AGAINST HATE
UNITED BY LOVE
Educational Program

Press Room

PROGRAM OUTLINE

During the months of April and May 2021, LunART presented STUDENTS AGAINST HATE UNITED BY LOVE, a virtual pilot workshop series exploring the roles of art and activism. Fully virtual 5th grade students at Kromrey and Glacier Creek Middle Schools learned how to use their artistic voices to shout out loud about love, delving into themes of justice and human rights through poetry, storytelling, and visual art.

Madison artist and activist Kelly Parks Snider, whose work appeared in our 2018 & 2019 festivals, guided the students in the creation of a self-portrait using painting and print-making techniques. Additionally, students heard from guest poets Fabu Phillis Carter (Madison poet laureate) and Jamie Dawson, who were featured in LunART’s HUMAN FAMILY Virtual Festival.

STUDENTS AGAINST HATE UNITED BY LOVE culminated in an outdoor “pop-up” art exhibit on Friday, May 21, 5-7pm, in which students had the opportunity to share their writing and participate in “art talks.”

PROJECT GOALS:

To engage young people and increase leadership opportunities
To amplify youth voices working to break down barriers and current hate rhetoric directed at immigrant communities, racial and religious minorities and other marginalized groups
To provide students with an adaptable roadmap which aids development of a more cohesive school community
To inspire self-reflection, increase understanding and create student-led social change
To introduce students to new avenues for their creativity and artistic self-expression
To foster a young generation which values arts and culture, and their benefits to the community

Meet our lead artist and creator of Students Against Hate curriculum!

KELLY PARKS SNIDER explores contemporary cultural and social issues. Using art and words, she educates communities, stimulates dialogue about target issues and creates social change. As a visual artist, Kelly’s work exhibits nationally in public galleries. Her Rural Women: Voice and Spirit exhibit was funded in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Art Board. The Commercial Land Exhibition was the culmination of a two-year exploration of the effects of contemporary media on young teens’ live and attitudes and is exhibited nationally. Kelly explores complex, highly charged issues in her new exhibition, using visual expression to comment on the invisible truths about power and privilege, inequality and injustice. Determined to make sense of these truths and shine a light on them, Parks Snider sought insights from leading thinkers on matters of racial, social and cultural concern, and individuals with first- hand experience of injustice stemming from them. Activism is the foundation for all of Kelly’s endeavors. Her objective is to educate communities about targeted issues in the hopes of shaking up the status quo, creating a catalyst, examining the questions that shape and inspire all of us.