Today in hip hop and arts we had a discussion about changing our entire game plan with the activity. We had initially planned to host a concert event where we would have a series of performances some by IST students and others by performers form the local community. Then we also planned to have a sort of art/graffiti workshop while the concert is happening where we would bring local children in and also IST students in and guide them through the different stages. However, today we reconsidered this idea because it doesn’t really demonstrate collaboration with the community but rather a kind of self-rhichousness. It was like we were adopting a very common mindset of financially and socially privileged people - we were telling the local community to come over and we will SHOW them HOW to do music and art and teach them how to do this or that without acknowledging the fact that these things may already be happening within the community. We are overriding their style, their ingenuity, their creativity and instead imposing our own artistic ideas. Therefore, to make it a more collaborative invitive, we decided to get student that are already interested in hip hop and arts in their own communities and already have their own little groups and their own sense of creativity and style. Then we will work WITH them to create a CD then the art department will create a cover for the CD. This way, we allow them to breathe creatively - not stifle them or assume that they know nothing already. We will also be providing them with resources to take their work higher. We hope to begin the process next week! I am excited!!!