The Power of Truths Arts & Education Festival envisions a world where arts and education are utilized to bring about communities where justice and equity are the standards, not outliers. We center the practice that the arts and humanities are powerful tools to envision and create a more just world.

The 3rd Annual Power of Truths Arts & Education Festival builds on the previous year’s event with even more thought provoking and inspiring presenters, performances, talks, panels, and workshops with the purpose of inspiring educators and learners to focus on the intersections between arts and education as tools for power that build toward a just and equitable society.

Festival Schedule:

Friday, April 5, 2024

9:00 AM: REGISTRATION / CHECK IN

9:30 AM: OPENING WORDS (Sanctuary)

10:30 AM: Session 1 (Sanctuary) - Multimedia Films for Racial Justice - Self-Evident Education

10:30 AM: Session 1 (Green Room) - Sankofa: 4th Dimensional Visions Informed By the Past - Khalif Neville

10:30 AM: Session 1 (Peacock Room) - International Collaborations and Multi-Cultural Visual Storytelling Work - Bayeté Ross Smith

10:30 AM: Session 1 (Music Room) - Documenting Black Lives in the Valley - Ousmane Power-Greene, Carol Aleman, Dylan Gafney and Cliff McCarthy

10:30 AM: Session 1 (Cafeteria) - Popups/cards and books - Rochelle Shicoff

10:30 AM: Session 1 (Classroom 1) - Farm the Power - Nina Buxenbaum

10:30 AM: Session 1 (Classroom 2) - How Can Public Schools Utilize All Stakeholders in the Disruption and Dismantling of White Dominant Culture? - Marisa Mendonsa & Brian Reilly

10:30 AM: Session 1 (Outside) - The African-American History Trail - David Ruggles Center

11:45 AM: LUNCH

12:45 PM: Session 2 (Sanctuary) - The Witness Stone Project

12:45 PM: Session 2 (Green Room) - Sankofa: 4th Dimensional Visions Informed By the Past - Khalif Neville

12:45 PM: Session 2 (Peacock Room) - Hiphop History and Hiphop as History: The Elements - Akrobatik, DJ Trends, and Jeff Jean Phillippe

12:45 PM: Session 2 (Music Room) - Multimedia Films for Racial Justice - Self-Evident Education

12:45 PM: Session 2 (Cafeteria) - Student Filmmaking and Project Based Learning - Henry Frechete and students

12:45 PM: Session 2 (Outside) - The African-American History Trail - David Ruggles Center

2:15 PM - 3:30 PM: CLOSING WORDS (Sanctuary) - Keynote Session - Malia Lazu: Looking Back, So We Can Look Ahead - Akrobatik: The Hiphop Curriculum

Saturday, April 6, 2024

9:30 AM: REGISTRATION / CHECK IN

10:00 AM: OPENING WORDS (Sanctuary)

11:00 AM: Session 1 (Sanctuary) - The Hiphop Curriculum - Akrobatik

11:00 AM: Session 1 (Green Room) - Sankofa: 4th Dimensional Visions Informed By the Past - Khalif Neville

11:00 AM: Session 1 (Peacock Room) - This is Your Democracy! Voting Rights and Direct Action as Response to the Threat of Facism - Ousmane Power-Greene, Malia Lazu, Milan Clark Western Mass Policy Institute

11:00 AM: Session 1 (Cafeteria) - Multimedia Films for Racial Justice - Self-Evident Education

11:00 AM: Session 1 (Classroom 1: upstairs) - Bridging to Belonging: Transforming Polarization in Schools - Safire DeJong & Tom Chang

11:00 AM: Session 1 (Outside) - The African-American History Trail - David Ruggles Center

12:00 PM: LUNCH

1:15 PM: Keynote (Sanctuary) - Metaracism: How Systemic Racism Devastates Black Lives?and How We Break Free - Tricia Rose Keynote

2:15 PM: Session 2 (Sanctuary) - Northampton High School Wind Ensemble

2:15 PM: Session 2 (Green Room) - Sankofa: 4th Dimensional Visions Informed By the Past - Khalif Neville

2:15 PM: Session 2 (Peacock Room) - Reparations in our Community and Beyond - Garrick Perry, Marsha Morris, Tom Weiner, St. John’s Reparations Commission and others

2:15 PM: Session 2 (Music Room) - Addressing Colorblindness through Literature Instruction - Dr. Sophia Sarigianides

2:15 PM: Session 2 (Cafeteria) - Multimedia Films for Racial Justice - Self-Evident Education

3:30 PM: Session 3 (Green Room) - Sankofa: 4th Dimensional Visions Informed By the Past - Khalif Neville

3:30 PM: Session 3 (Peacock Room) - Farm the Power - Nina Buxenbaum

3:30 PM: Session 3 (Music Room) - Thinking in Terms of Assemblages: Lessons from Ecology - Geoff Sanborn

3:30 PM: Session 3 (Cafeteria) - Multimedia Films for Racial Justice - Self-Evident Education

3:30 PM: Session 3 (Outside) - The African-American History Trail - David Ruggles Center

4:30 PM: CLOSING WORDS (Sanctuary) - Community Conversations

5:30 PM: DINNER on your own

6:30 PM: DOORS OPEN - Know the Ledge

7:30 PM - 9:45PM: Know the Ledge + Premiere of "Freedom's Battle at Christiana"

Fest Date: April 5 - 6, 2024

Location: BOMBYX Center for Arts & Equity, 130 Pine St, Florence, MA

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