Art and civics education may seem like separate fields but at UW-Milwaukee, ArtsECO is trying to bring them together with workshops for teachers of both subjects. ArtsECO stands for Arts Education/Community Ecosystem. Centered out of UWM’s Peck School of the Arts Department of Art & Design, it develops teachers as change-makers. ArtsECO is backed by a strong and sustainable community of arts organizations, non-profits and K-16 school partnerships. The program recruits and develops thoughtfully engaged, social justice-oriented pre-service teachers and supports them as they grow into inspired mentors who integrate the arts into the classroom. In partnership with Institute of World Affairs, ArtsECO hosted a workshop featuring artist Issa Nyaphaga to explore the connection between art and civic engagement. Speaking from his experience as a political cartoonist in Cameron and France, Issa shared the importance of this intersection and how it can be used as a tool to educate. The workshop took place in the UWM Kenilworth Gallery, the exhibit on display was a collaborative portrait project with Milwaukee Public Schools and Art Start, a New York based art outreach organization. The Portrait Project offered young black and brown students the opportunity to portray the complex narratives about their identities, asking the world to see them for how they choose to be seen. The exhibit was called See Me Because and allowed the young men to speak for their work and have a multimedia exhibit.

SEE ME BECAUSE: Art Start Portrait Project Vol. 7 from Art Start Org on Vimeo.

In this setting we were challenged to explore the connections between our students and social issues that impact them and how we as educators can lift up their voices. While walking around the space, we brainstormed how the concepts are connected and what language we should use with our students. Central themes like politics and power or human rights and young people made us think of how high school students think about the world around them. Today, teenagers have access to so much information and as educators we can underestimate how much they know or what they care about. Students are more  involved than ever in the world and we should appreciate their diverse interests and allow them to express their opinions and feelings in our classes. Art and Civics teacher then combined to create a dream curriculum where we could teach what we have learned and give students resources – in a hypothetical world where we have a budget to do so – and let them express themselves. While there was nearly complete free range, we did have to make sure our lesson plans met the core standards of each subject and make it inclusive to all students. Sharing knowledge and experience each group came up with a central theme with curriculum to support it and an example of the final art piece that would be made by students.