On Thursday, January 26 the Growing Democracy Project will host an artists’ reception in the Uumbaji Gallery in Oscar Ritchie Hall at Kent State University (Kent Campus) for the Photovoice Project on Race and Democracy in northeast Ohio. The event is free and open to the public and runs from 4-6:30 p.m.
Photovoice is a community-engaged art project that uses photography and storytelling to describe the strengths, weaknesses, and overall health of our community. Photovoice asked community members to take photos that describe their community.
Submissions were reviewed by Kent State faculty and students. The organizers of the project hope to raise awareness and promote discussion.
“The project builds on the success of our Race & Democracy in Northeast Ohio series, where we examined the intersections of race and democracy in northeast Ohio, contributing to the Growing Democracy Project’s commitment to social justice through a race-conscious lens,” Ashley Nickels, Ph.D., co-founder of the Growing Democracy Project and an associate professor in the School of Peace and Conflict Studies at Kent State, said. “It encourages us all to think about the ways race, racism, and racialized identities shape democracy and civic and political life, with a specific focus on northeast Ohio.”
The event is organized and sponsored by the Growing Democracy Project, with support from Kent State’s School of Peace and Conflict Studies, Center of Pan African Culture, and Anti-Racism and Equity Institute.
About the Growing Democracy Project
The Growing Democracy Project is a collaborative effort to build civic capacity by bringing together diverse constituencies – community members, civic leaders, grassroots organizations, and universities. By sharing experiences and expertise, and learning from one another, they hope to empower communities and facilitate social change. They offer a variety of programs, including community workshops and podcasts, to empower communities and facilitate social change by creating spaces to amplify multiple forms of expertise and knowledge, especially the voices of systemically marginalized people, and to demystify politics, policy, and governance.
The Growing Democracy Project has a special program on Race and Democracy that focuses on anti-Black and anti-Asian racism and racialized politics in Northeast Ohio. This project includes a 10-episode podcast series examining the intersections of race and democracy in Northeast Ohio, two community workshops/events on the subject of race and democracy, as well as blogs and concept pages on the website.
To learn more about the Growing Democracy Project, visit: www.growingdemocracyOH.org
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Media Contacts:
Ashley Nickels, anickel5@kent.edu
Dina Rathburn, 330-672-3143, drathbur@kent.edu
Jim Maxwell, 330-672-8028, JMAXWEL2@kent.edu