Exploring Identity Through The Arts

One of She Crew's interns made the Principal's List for grades and behavior.

Exploring who you are is a valuable exercise for anyone, especially in situations in which those individuals are part of oppressed groups and haven't always had opportunities for growth available to them. Having a tool to express individuality and group identity, recognizing historical background leading to your moment in time, discovering who you really are, happen to be life tasks that need to be addressed in order to develop in maturity.

Two women, with backgrounds in the arts, Jessica London-Shields and Meredith Montgomery, came together in Chicago and founded SHE CREW. The organization began as one that offered an intensive multidisciplinary workshop, lasting six weeks and occurring in the summer, for girls age 12 to 14.



The workshops were designed to provide an opportunity to explore being a woman, what womanhood is all about, and how that affects how the girls see themselves. Specifically, they received writing prompts in the areas of womanhood and identity; and women and family, community, career, and their own bodies.

Not only is journal writing utilized in the workshops. There is also discussion, especially looking into the cultural view that womanhood is something to attain and towards which to strive. In addition, the girls engage in performance exercises that enable a deeper and more introspective exploration of various viewpoints, new perspectives, and inclusiveness. These forms of work are planned to enable the girls to form a culture of equality, accepting all the faces of womanhood that are seen around them. At the end of the workshop, the girls participate in a performance that is written by the group.

Two other programs are available through She Crew and are open to those who have completed the summer intensive workshop. The Continuation Program continues the experience of the summer intensive with weekly meetings that lead to improved writing and performance skills, leadership, and civic engagement. Support is also provided in filling out high school applications and resume writing.

The Continuation Program continues the work started in the Summer Intensive program.

The Growth Program is available to girls age 15 to 19. The internship portion of the program provides instruction in curriculum development, leadership, and directing and producing. The instructor portion (limited to those age 18 and above) allows youth to work with an adult instructor, who helps them to deepen their skills in curriculum development, leadership, and utilizing the methods of She Crew in its programs. Both of this components provide pay for the girls.

The writers' pack that participants in the summer workshop receive.

Thanks for information from this article on Pollination Project: http://thepollinationproject.org/grants-awarded/jessica-london-meredith-montgomery-she-crew/; and the above link.

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