I believe the arts are a perfect lens through which to study many of the major issues relevant to our city such as immigration, gentrification, inequality, education, and the racial dynamics between different ethnic groups. During a walking tour of Spanish Harlem, my students and I learned about and saw for ourselves how Puerto Rican murals in Spanish Harlem--which were originally created to affirm the visibility of this oppressed population--have actually been literally and figuratively erased in recent years, as the murals themselves have become commodified through artistic commissions of outside artists. When studying hip hop, I emphasized the lack of representation of Puerto Ricans in the history of hip hop and New York City in general. We also studied bhangra music in the context of the South Asian community in New York City and the politics of the West Indian Labor Day Parade. Finally, we studied the Giuliani persecution of Cuban rumberos in Central Park, seeing it as an example of the threatening power that drums have possessed in the Americas since colonial times.

I have found the arts a perfect vehicle to emphasize different modes of learning and communication. I am especially interested in the way that students of color can integrate the arts into their learning in ways that are empowering to them. For example, after learning the vocabulary of visual analysis, we had a print making workshop and practiced applying these concepts to the students’ own works. In this year, I wanted to create a program that not only continues to introduce students to art and art institutions that are unfamiliar to them, but also to encourage them to rethink the public and popular art that they interact with everyday. We explored the politics of public art by studying the complicated relationship of graffiti to the public art we found in Bryant Park. We went to the Graffiti Hall of Fame, had a graffiti workshop, and students wrote mock letters to The New York Times addressing Mayor Lindsay and his famous 1972 anti-graffiti campaign. My students also rapped lyrics, learned hip hop DJing techniques while scratching records, and danced salsa, boogaloo, and bachata. Through dancing bachata students understood the early connection of this genre to the brothels in 1970s Dominican Republic. Through drumming, students understood the connections Afro-Caribbean communities in New York make to their African heritage. 

I also strove to give students new ways to think about the arts where the techniques and ideas can be relevant to their professional development. Through making art, students learn to pose questions, solve problems, communicate, imagine, and create. I used my world music and critical race theory expertise to help diversify the program. I organized a concert of North Indian classical music and brought in artists of color including a female Afro-Puerto Rican drummer as an artist in residence. Through her experience, students understood the patriarchal aspects of Latin music and how women challenge traditional roles in New York City. In the future, I would like to incorporate artists to demonstrate and discuss the art, history, and culture of beatboxing, gospel singing, DJ-ing, hip hop producing, and urban styles of theater and dance.