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Over spring break, more than 100 Princeton students explored critical social issues in communities across the U.S. and on campus through Breakout Princeton and Breakout Local with the Pace Center for Civic Engagement.

Instead of sharing what students learn and experience through a typical narrative story, I teamed up with the Princeton University communications team to create a visual story with student photography taking center stage to illuminate the Breakout Princeton program with the Pace Center for Civic Engagement. More student insight can be found on the Breakout Princeton blog as well: https://breakout-blogs.weebly.com/

#breakoutpton #princeton university #service #civicengagement #springbreak #studentleaders #community #learning #photography #blog

3.24 Theatre of the Oppressed - "Repeat What I Said, and Act the Opposite”

Hi! This is Yunzi. After the super packed week, our last full day started with the vivid workshop at Philadelphia Theatre of the Oppressed. I had the opportunity to participate in Theatre of the Oppressed before this trip and got really interested in their philosophy of acting out the tension and resistance in the form of interactive improv theatre (for example, in one of the games, the participants are asked to act out the opposite of the order they are given), so I was very excited to discover its division in Philadelphia and managed to participate in a workshop along with the Breakout Group and members from the Philadelphia community.

The workshop focused on conversation about “rifts” - the difference between people that cause clash and segregation. It started with a series of theatre games that embody daily experience. Through acting out different emotional expressions to other participants, we got to break the ice and know each other as well as becoming comfortable to the space. Then the games simulated the clash between opposing opinions in public, as well as how people react to their own mask of rift. By having partners accurately mirroring each other’s body language of the rift, we get to see our own images of distrust, frustration and vulnerability, and then develop the narrative to reason with oneself. After that, all of the participants sat down and discussed their observations and reflections throughout the workshop.

For me, the most powerful moment was definitely seeing my own image of the rift: when I am self-conscious and have internal conversation with myself, I seldom realize that physical appearance is a part of it. In public places, since this outer shell is often the first thing others interpret and act accordingly, it is an overlooked but important part of self-expression. What struck me the most was the nuance of negative emotions from the eyes of my mirrored image. I also found it harder than I thought to reason with myself. It was through theatre that these expression are registered and acknowledged. Even though the story behind each individual is different, common emotions reminded us of the universal insecurity and vulnerability of each and every one.

This workshop also goes off the line at Curtis and Art Sanctuary that interactive art that bring people outside of the profession into the discussion and use art as the language to seek mutual understanding and open up conversations. At lunch, the group brainstormed how we could take what we learned from this trip back on campus, and one of the proposals was to connect with existing student art groups and set up interactive workshops unpacking personal identity open to the whole campus, as an extension of the philosophy at Theatre of the Oppressed.

We visited Philadelphia Museum of Art in the afternoon and had dinner with our lovely hosts at the Jazz Cafe in downtown Philadelphia, as a closing for our program.

#breakoutpton

3.23: Puerto Rico, Orchestras, and The Definition of Home

Hey! Colleen here.

Today was action-packed - we were early to rise and scheduled to visit three destinations. First was Taller Puertorriqueño, “the cultural heart of Latino Philadelphia.” Dedicated to preserving and promoting Puerto Rican arts and culture, this organization was different than others we have visited in that it was centered around a specific cultural heritage. We saw a really neat multimedia exhibition, and got to chat with outreach director Dora about the work that Taller does. In addition to youth programming, she mentioned their current efforts to bring arts to older populations in nursing homes. For the remainder of our visit, the six of us split up...some worked with the manager of the youth artist program to repurpose old canvases for future art classes, while others - wait for it - got to shred lots of old documents. As we made our way to the bus stop after Taller, Latin music filled the streets, prompting some spicy salsa moves from certain group members.

Next stop: The Curtis Institute of Music. Located in a fairly affluent section of Philadelphia, this prestigious school currently nurtures the musical development of 175 students, providing a liberal arts education in a music-heavy setting. While the contrast between the Institute and many of our other destinations was drastic in terms of financial stability, they seem to be partnering with some great initiatives, including one that brings music workshops to inmates at a nearby prison, allowing them to write and perform songs. Curtis fosters the love of music in not only its talented students, but the greater community as well. On our way out, we watched a bit of the orchestra’s rehearsal...I closed my eyes and let the overpowering sound engulf me. It was beautiful.

After a lovely Thai meal, spontaneous discussions on Abraham Lincoln, and a needed coffee stop, we attended Intersections: Art, Identity, Home, a panel discussion co-hosted by Art Sanctuary and Intercultural Journeys. The conversation centered around the experience of black female artists in today’s America, and explored the intersections of race, identity, home, and art. All the women expressed a deep sense of belonging within their art forms...for them, art isn’t a hobby, but a necessity, a way of life. The bubbly energy and passion of these artists filled the room, and the way they played off of each other, laughing throughout, made for a dialogue that was both engaging and empowering. Emphasized here was the power of art to act as a means of processing, of exploration and expression, and, ultimately, of self-discovery. My coursework at Princeton has thus far revolved largely around the concepts of race, identity, and home, so tonight really resonated with me.

Our adventures today were fruitful and enlightening. Stay tuned tomorrow for the final update in our family’s journey!

#breakoutpton

3.22 “We Are Creaaaaaative!”

Hey guys, my name is Anna and I’ll write the blog tonight! Today, our community partner was “Yes and…Collaborative Arts” which is located in the outskirts of Philadelphia. For anyone who is not an expert in improv theater, let me explain that the name “Yes and…” comes from an improv method in which actors learn how to adapt to different situations in scenes where they can only say “Yes and…” – no negative answers allowed! After some fun commuting around the city, we finally met Michael Brix, the executive director of the program. Before he told us about the project, he asked us a very interesting question: “What are your tribes?” What he meant was: where are we coming from? And who do we identify with? While we had certainly never thought about our identities like this before, it gave us a new way to think about our different communities. Michael explained to us that tribes and belonging to tribes is a pedagogy that their project has developed over the years for their work with children. Mostly working with theater, the project has been growing since it first started in 1998. While it started out as an opportunity for kids to do theater in the summer, it quickly became much bigger. Michael told us he knew that “Yes and…” should be continued after one boy, shortly before a performance, realized what he and his co-actors had achieved together and screamed out in amazement: “We are creaaaative!”Now, the project offers after-school programs, stages its own performances, and continues to expand the summer camps. Although the project is, above all, focused on theater, its aim is not to make stars of its young participants. As Michael said to us: “We want to help make these kids future leaders, that’s our mission.” It was really interesting for us to hear about his vision: “I know that we can’t make the whole world a better place, but we can be a part of it.” For him and “Yes and…” this means bringing together many children from different socioeconomic backgrounds and giving them the chance to address social issues through theater, on a pay-want-you-can-basis. For example, past performances included satiric approaches to the Stanford rape case or police brutality. We were really impressed by Michael’s passion and energy and gladly helped him clear out and re-storage a storage unit containing many theater props. I think we were all happy about the workout and loudly sang “High School Musical” songs while getting the chance to do some hands-on work. We wish Michael all the best with “Yes and…” and thank him for the insights he gave us today!

After a short pizza break, we got the chance to see Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Philadelphia’s Arden Theater. While completely different from our experience with “Yes and…” I think we all enjoyed it a lot as it was a rather modern adaption of the play, with lots of jokes (we are still debating whether some of the funny moments we planned or improvised), music, and singing. It was a great way to end the day because the whole day was themed around theater and it was really interesting to see how different theater can be and how it can influence and intrigue people in a myriad of ways.

#breakoutpton

3.19.17 visit to Space 1026 and Mural Arts Train Tour

Hey guys, it’s Jackson and I’ll be writing the blog entry for tonight (and our trips first entry!! woop woop). So today was a pretty light day, we visited two community partners, Space 1026 and the Mural Arts Train Tour. Space 1026 is a a two floor studio space dedicated to allowing its members a space to create their art as well as showcasing outside artists’ works. We all agreed, we LOVED Space 1026. We met with three of the organizations members and discussed their art, their inspirations, setbacks, motivations, etc. One member in particular, Max, really struck us all with his honest and introversion and ability to balance supreme levity with supreme wisdom.

The second thing we did was attend a mural arts train tour. Mural Arts is a wide ranging organization that works to make sure that art has a prominent place within the Philadelphia community. Today we took a train tour that showcased a city wide mural project entitled “Love Letters.” While we enjoyed the actual tour and appreciated the murals for their beauty, we felt like the tour lacked in explaining HOW this particular project tangible helped the community, if at all. We seemed to agree that there was an element of wanting to say they were helping the community without actually helping the community.

Our debrief today was honestly phenomenal. Because of our conversations about Mural arts (and the deficiencies we felt that program had) and Space 1026, we, as a group, actually came to begin discussing key issues within American culture right now, discrimination, institutionalized racism, self-segregation, and the like. We have two international students on our trip which leads to lots of great questions about American culture. As a result, we’ve already had some great conversations about how each of us interacts within our countries and within our communities. Overall I’m super excited about where this trip seems to be heading. I really feel like we’re bonding as a group and today was a great day 1. Signing off, Jackson

P.S. more pictures from today to follow in the morn

#breakoutpton #ourtomorrow