Whose Magazine:The Recycle Challenge-100 Paper Dresses!
By Madera E. Rogers-Henry
Whose Magazine? A Youth Publication aka Literacy Project International has received stipends from a grant to Chic Nouvelle World Wide from Ya Heard Me & TANDEM ED Grant. This year grant is providing monthly stipends for three New Orleans High Schoolers: Hailey, Rose and Sasha. The main goal is that each month the team assist one another and adult artists to complete their design featuring a wearable paper dress.
The component is the environmental /educational program of Whose Magazine? aka Literacy Project International. This two - year experience called The Recycle Challenge: 100 Paper Dresses is a Trash To Art Initiative. This initiative began in 2018, and will end in 2023. The aim for Whose Magazine? A Youth Publication is to expose youth to effective ideas around reducing trash pollution, into creating products that have a smart art to trash! Most importantly, youth are a big part of the various stages to the project. As artists along with community and partners, interweaving recycling, and being the creators of documenting the telling of stories through various art mediums, writing, photography.
It bridges the world of activism, sustainability, recycling, art and business. All youth are required to provide reflections as they learn or deal with challenges and or celebrations. Youth are introduced to business tools as Otter audio and transcribing platform. Many of our blogs will originate from audio to written formats.
We focus on - how art can solve issues around the environment, social justice and reducing trash pollution? Youth are at the center of the performances to creating works of art that relies on recycling and repurposing trash.
Our blogs will focus on the progress and general information about this and other programs.
Written by Hailey Hayes
My name is Hailey Hayes I'm 16 years old, and I go to the school Light Christian Academy. I've been involved in the program for about two years so since about 2019 and then COVID Hit which pretty much took a whole year away from our lives. And that was a really rough year, it's and I lost a lot of people that I was close to, including my principal, Miss Markey. We were very close.
And, you know, even though that year was terrible. It inspired me to get more involved in my art. And now I'm really excited to be working on this paper dress, and my design for the dress is very futuristic it's very sharp. It's very dark, and I'm super excited to see how it's gonna turn out. I'm excited to be receiving a stipend so I'm able to put more money in to my art projects. And I'm really excited to see how all of this is gonna work out and go forward.
The following slide presentation introduces Hailey and another youth artist at various stages of assembling Roses Stars and Stripes Paper Dress.
The overall goal of the project connects to two of New Orleans Ya Heard Me pillars. They are: Education and Economics/Ownership focuses on encouraging youth to increase literacy skills through art, activism and journalism. As a viable venue that provides financial support through employment opportunities the project allows it's citizens of the greater New Orleans region can see their cultures and communities positive reflected. Especially, at various stages in this project and from the arts medium of creating to, writing, photography, and reporting from a youth perspective. We tell our own stories.
Highlights of the Recycle Trash To Art Initiative includes:
* Kick-off event to be featured on July 14, 2021. More details to follow.
Two of The Paper Dresses will be unveiled featuring:
Youth Artist- Rose ( The Star & Stripes Dress)
Adult Artist - Russell Russell (Big Mama's Dress)
Video below features Russell Robinson (seated) and youth artist(s);
Rose (left) and Hailey (right).
If you have an interest in your son/ daughter being a volunteer youth artist, contact: literacyproject@gmail.com.
HISTORY OF Whose Magazine? A Youth Publication
This New Orleans based pilot project stems from the program Madera Rogers-Henry directed in public schools in Colorado from 1998 to 2010 where students interviewed Tiger Woods, Morgan Freeman, and Miss America, among other personalities. First-ever visit to a theatrical stage show, and traveled to Ground Zero in New York to document the 9/11 tragedy through words and photographs. Partners at the time included numerous Colorado to Texas school districts and partnered with Denver Film Society and Radio Disney.