The For Freedoms Student Organizing Committee started in September 2020 and is made up of undergraduate Umass students from across campus. The group meets weekly and seeks to engage the community at large with student-led public programming. All events center conversations that lead to a deeper understanding of democracy, art, our participation in both and the visitor’s place at UMCA. The Committee sets intentions for meetings and participation, use round table dialogue and benchmarks of their design to organize meetings and events. The Committee will serve as the student voice within the museum and will be ambassadors to the community for this exhibition. Our goals are to be an intentionally decolonized space embodying the best practices of the group’s development and to use art and arts programming to infuse these ideologies in the community at large.
The committee is led by Carolyn Parker-Fairbain, a UMCA intern and student in the UMass W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies.
We Are For Freedoms Virtual Town Hall
Tuesday, October 27, 2020 6 - 7pm
Designed by the For Freedoms Student Organizing Committee and hosted before the upcoming presidential election, this virtual gathering brings together students, artists, and creative thinkers to discuss ideas around democracy, civic engagement, activism, survival, and healing. It includes an introduction to the UMCA’s spring 2021 exhibition of the same name.
The event included a break out section (not recorded) where all participants were invited into small group conversations focusing on the guiding questions below. The Word Cloud was used to generate ideas and faciliate the discussion.
Guiding Questions:
What are survival strategies from the past that may help us in the present moment?
What does healing look like in your community?
What are new ways we can build resilience?
Where do you find joy and hope?
Word Cloud:
Survival
Healing
Resonance
Reflection
Emotion
Roots
Compassion
Re-imagining
Acknowledgement
Inspiration
Connection
Unity
Community
Liberation
Resistance
Resilience
For Freedoms Student Organizing Committee Members
Fall 2020
Carolyn Parker-Fairbain
Alice Erickson
Sofia Meadows-Muriel
Seven Ingle
Leritza Ruiz
Zach Steward
Spring 2021
Carolyn Parker-Fairbain
Alice Erickson
Sofia Meadows-Muriel
Leritza Ruiz
