UBW Summer Leadership Institute 2014

As many of you know, I had the opportunity to travel to New Orleans and participate in Urban Bush Women's Summer Leadership Institute.  Upon my return, I was immersed in the process of preparing and writing for my Qualifying Exam.  This turned out to be a great way to synthesize all that happened at SLI, and now that I have finally resurfaced, I am ready to articulate this long overdue response...

First, I am thankful to Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and the amazing UBW SLI team for facilitating this program.  It was invigorating to be amongst such a diverse group of people who are working and thinking about intersections of arts, community, and social change in so many different ways.  I learned so much from each and every person I encountered.

Second, words cannot express how well this experience was facilitated.  The UBW philosophy around entering, building, and exiting community was embedded in every interaction - on a micro level between individuals, through to a macro level of co-creating a performance, and beyond.  It was incredible to see that in action and to be a part of it.   

I was challenged, supported, and motivated.  The atmosphere was electric, sparking new questions and prompting the reframing of existing questions. Through multimodal inquiry and ample opportunities for dialogue, we looked at issues through multiple lenses.  In every exchange --  between people, places, and activities -- we found connections to specific issues and overarching themes. 

I'll conclude by sharing some burning desires, further fueled by my experience at SLI. 

I desire to:

 - continue to hone the skill of telescopic investigation... zooming in to focus on details and widening out to identify to broader systems and structures.
 - further examine my role as a researcher and artist in building community... especially as I work to find my place in my new home of Philadelphia.
 - work in ways that dismantles rather than upholds racism
 - understand my relationship to activism in my creative practice/doctoral research
 - stay connected to the amazing friends that I made at SLI.

Okay, one last thought:

After one of the performances, I overheard an audience member remark, "Now that was community!"  Through that one culminating event, she was apparently able to perceive something that I experienced throughout the creative process… something that began as a glimmer of potential, that percolated through our hard work and dedication to the process and to each other, and developed into an experience I will never forget.