Newsletter, July 2015

JULY UPDATE

Opportunities

Program for Emerging Artists from South Asia Application
WHEN: The deadline for Fall 2015 is August 15, 2015
WHERE: Harvard University
WHAT: The Harvard University South Asia Institute’s Arts Initiative welcomes applications from emerging artists in South Asia to come to Harvard University to participate in discourse with students and faculty on critical issues.
Two artists (residents of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, or Sri Lanka) will be selected for the 2016-2017 academic year, including one fall artist and one spring artist. Particular attention will be paid to artists whose work is related to SAI’s ongoing research projects: http://southasiainstitute.harvard.edu/projects/.
For more information, please visit: http://southasiainstitute.harvard.edu/2015/06/call-for-applications-program-for-emerging-artists-from-south-asia/.

Internship with the United Somali Youth
WHEN: Beginning summer 2015
WHERE: Boston, MA
WHAT: USY is looking for an intern to assist the program manager with daily support for the program’s numerous activities such as its Pre-Texts sessions, tournaments and cookouts.
USY MISSION: United Somali Youth provides a support system for urban immigrants and former refugee youth from Africa. USY aids in the process of cultural integration and aims to develop leadership capabilities through athletics, discussion forums, academic workshops, and social activities. USY also provides college preparatory coaching and aid in securing college scholarships, as well as assistance in adapting to the American education system.
Contact: Said Ahmed, saidahmed330@gmail.com
For more information on USY, visit: http://www.unitedsomaliyouth.org/.

General News: Pre-Texts

The Cultural Agents Initiative continues its collaboration with the United Somali Youth this week as a group of youth facilitators begin to lead Pre-Texts sessions for their peers. These sessions will be held twice a week for the duration of the summer enrichment program.

In addition, Pre-Texts workshops will be held in Uganda, Colombia, Mexico and Chile this month. For instances, this week Doris Sommer will lead a workshop in Santiago, Chile for educators of the Centros de Creación. For more on the Centros de Creación, see:
http://www.cultura.gob.cl/programa/centros-de-creacion/.

Four Pre-Texts workshops will be held simultaneously in Antioquia, Colombia the week of July 13. Four facilitators from the Boston-based Cultural Agents team and four from Colombia will train 100 teachers in Pre-Texts as part of the Parques y Educativos initiative. We look forward to sending you updates on the implementation and replication of Pre-Texts in Antioquia in the coming months.

Naseemah Mohamed will continue her Pre-Texts work in Uganda for the month of July. Here are a few highlights from Naseemah about the Writivism Festival, which was held June 17-21 at Makerere University and National Theatre:
I led a Pre-Texts masterclass on June 19 for 14 writers, including both young authors and established writers such as Tsitsi Dangarembga and Jennifer Makumbi! It was an interesting experience because I didn’t know that Jennifer would come to the masterclass before choosing her text to interpret. She was completely blown away by how unique the interpretations were, and she and another participant mentioned how it showed them that once you publish a book, it is no longer yours and the ideas are interpreted differently and it gets subjectively ‘owned’ by other people as well.

On behalf of Pre-Texts and Writivism, Jennifer then spoke to students and teachers from three schools about literature and writing. 

Naseemah Mohamed during a Pre-Texts masterclass in
Uganda.

Pre-Texts has also continued to thrive in the Mano Amiga School in Chalco, Mexico thanks to the dedication of Lilia Garelli. Lilia will facilitate a Pre-Texts training with historian Ana Maria Serna at El Instituto de Investigaciones Dr. José María Luis Mora July 27-31, 2015.

General News: Cultural Agents

With the help of an amazing group of interns, we’re getting ready to launch a new Pre-Texts website and an internship list that will feature internship opportunities for Harvard and non-Harvard students to serve as cultural agents either directly with our Initiative or with partnering organizations.

The Cultural Agents team is also finalizing its academic program for the coming year, including the Cultural and Humanitarian Agents speaker series which will feature such guests as Araceli Alonso of Health by Motorbikes. In addition, members of the symbolic reparations working group will continue their work in Bogotá this month through their participation in a conference and working sessions. Events related to this project will also be held at Harvard University in the coming year. Stay tuned!

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