Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Mestizo Arts and Activism Project

Mestizo Arts and Activism program is a youth leadership, research, and education program involving high school students on the west side of Salt Lake City in community change. The objective is not only to learn more about young people’s concerns about their community, but to address and act upon identified issues. Drawing upon the assets of the diverse communities of the West Side, the Mestizo Arts & Activism program is a university-community partnership engaging the resources of community partners: the Mestizo Institute for Culture and Arts (MICA) and the West Side Leadership Institute of University Neighborhood Partners (UNP) & NeighborWorks Salt Lake (NWS).

As part of the program the youth participants develop participatory action research projects based on their own concerns. In Spring 2008 the youth research teams investigated issues of access to higher education for undocumented students; stereotypes of immigrants and discrimination in Salt Lake City. In the process, young people frame the questions to be investigated, they document and analyze conditions in their local areas, identify priority issues affecting young people, and develop action plans to affect change in their community.

For more information about the Mestizo Arts & Activism program email us at: maa@mestizoarts.org




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