Standing on the stage at Paul Robeson Community School for the Arts, several productions are happening at once. Groups of students rehearse their dance steps on stage, in hallways and among chairs in the auditorium for the final presentation.
It is a group of about 40 New Brunswick children who created their own original short films, took photographs, learned dance steps and developed original music beats.
The films are the latest project of Artists Mentoring Against Racism, Drugs & Violence: Healing Through the Arts (AMARD&V), an innovative anti-violence arts-based, community-building summer program for youth living in New Brunswick.
“Programs like this are so important because a lot of kids growing up in some areas don’t know what’s out there for them until you show them something different than what they’re used to,” said Art & Design alum Claudio Mir, who leads the initiative as artistic director. “I remember growing up in the Dominican Republic and getting caught up in the gang culture. If my mother didn’t challenge me to change my ways, I would have never made it to where I am now.”
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Photo by Nick Romanenko/Rutgers University