The YDPN is embarking on an exciting new collaboration with the San Francisco Art Institute. We are partnering with SFAI to try and develop a continuing education course that bridges youth workers and teachers. We are using the lens of the Our Path to Peace TOOLKIT (a FREE downloadable version is available at http://ydpn.bay.area.googlepages.com) to try and bridge this gap. We are incredibly thrilled to be tackling this issue.

We will be hosting a BROWN BAG on MONDAY, June 16th from 6:30pm to 9:30pm. Dinner will be provided. At this Brown Bag, we want to get your direct input into how to make this course the most successful it can be. At this Brown Bag you can expect:

• Networking with your peers
• An overview of the Our Path to Peace TOOLKIT (an exploration of violence, peace, and faith you can do with youth)
• Creating art
• Learning more about SFAI
• Brainstorming how to successfully rollout a continuing education course of some sort that meets YOUR NEEDS
• Community building

This course will be rooted in an exploration of the role of art education and literacy. We will explore a both domestic and international liberation struggles and art practices. The theoretical and practical work of Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire, is central to the course. Throughout the course we will read a variety of writing by and about this important educator and we will attempt to model our learning community on ideas and principles raised by Freire's work. The course strives to combat ideas of "European Universalism" and "Academic Apartheid " by placing the ideas of a diverse group of thinkers in dialogue with each other. To these ends students will be exposed to range of anti-colonial, post-colonial, feminist, queer, critical race, anti-capitalist and other progressive theorists of democracy and education. The course also attempts to expand the notion of what is theoretical work by including a variety of artistic mediums and genres of writing (including fiction, journalism, history, sociology, philosophy, films, artists statements, cultural criticism, biography/autobiography, and educational theory).

Craig Harshaw is a performance artist who directs Insight Arts, a contemporary arts organization based in Roger's Park, Chicago's most diverse working class neighborhood, which addresses the developmental needs of young people and builds their capacity for community involvement through the arts. He is the recipient of the Spirit of Rogers Park Award and the Special Award of Excellence for Summer Arts Education for “Can’t Stand the Heat.” Insight Arts’ mission is to increase access to cultural work that promotes social justice and defends human rights. His diverse performance work includes innovative productions of classic theater, original collaborative performances, and solo work. He is also a cultural critic whose writing has appeared in a number of arts and social justice publications. He is a former contributor editor of P-Form, a quarterly Journal of Performance and Interdisciplinary art.