So Much More than Art

Posted on March 16th, 2010 by Maya Christina

We attended Our Focus: The Child and Creciendo Juntos: Educadores, Niños y Familias Conference this past weekend sponsored by Las Positas College and Chabot College. I often present at conferences like these but it was our first time as vendors. We didn’t know what to expect and were just fabulously impressed with the great turn out, around 500 attendees. We were also impressed with the intent and breadth of the conference format. There were presentations in English, Spanish and Cantonese. And during lunch great dragons and flying skirts dancing and drumming!

During the keynote given by First 5’s Deputy Director Gloria Corral, we were nodding our heads and dreaming about sharing our Claiming Face curriculum as a tool to build cultural capacity in classrooms! We also connected with many great educators and students.

My presentation was filled to the maximum with engaged, insightful folks. We explored reflection. What would it feel like not just for our students and children to feel reflected in their world, but for us as well? Those present generally did not feel reflected in their world. When we imagined a world that fully reflected and empowered women, people of color, all ages and sizes, this is some of what was shared:

I would feel…
“like I had open horizons.”
“Respected.”
“My mind would expand.”
“Excited.”

And so much more!

A number of people spoke to the fact that they thought they were coming to “learn about art and creativity” but were pleasantly surprised and inspired to realize that it wasn’t about art, but was much deeper and moving. My commitment to educators deepened and widened as it always does in these moments. Hearing educator’s experiences and perspectives inspired me. Later that day we met with my dear friend Dr. Miguel Lopez as we continued to brainstorm about how to best support educators with our Claiming Face curriculum. It was a good day!