Spring 2002 Artists In Education Program 

Lead Teaching Artists: Angela Isaacs and Angie Leonino
Race, Representation and Youth at Thurgood Marshall Academic High School

History of Race, Representation, and Youth Program: 1994 – 2002
A joint project with the HERALD Project at San Francisco's Balboa High School, then Thurgood Marshall Academic High School Race, Representation and Youth (RRY) was a highly collaborative endeavor between students, artists and teachers. Through the analysis of mass-media forms and hands-on production, RRY teachers and students engaged in a critical dialogue about race, culture, class and gender representation. The project strived to teach students to be independent thinkers and informed citizens, as well as savvy media-makers through the expertise and insights provided by trained professional artists and media-producers. Artists collaborated on a curriculum designed to develop the critical thinking skills necessary for students to analyze media in order to be more informed producers. In studying various forms and tactics of modern advertising, students examine their own media consumption habits and their role in an ad-based society. The program enabled them to think critically about the clothes they wear, the soda they drink and the music they listened to. RRY students work was exhibited through bus cards on the MUNI system and at the San Francisco Public Library, as well as at their school campus and at the Southern Exposure Gallery.