MUSIC

VIDEO

PERFORMING ARTS

VISUAL ARTS

• SPEAK Poet: An interactive spoken word workshop for all writing levels to develop our writing, performance, and editorial skills. Includes opportunities to perform, facilitate workshops, and publish work.

• Land of Sankofa Production: An adapted version of The Wiz based in Richmond, CA, The Land of Sankofa, will bring together visual arts, music, spoken word, dance, and theater for a story of belonging, home, community power, and self-determination. In times of deeply felt disinvestment and displacement, this adaptation of the Wizard of Oz story will explore hope, liberation, and finding home within yourself and your community. Written by youth playwright, Sukari Wright, this youth-led ensemble will premiere in 2021 in RYSE Common’s newly constructed Black Box Theater, a performance and teaching space that will provide hands-on production opportunities for youth. We are seeking actors, dancers, singers, visual artists, musicians, and a behind the scenes crew.

• Lifeline: A music program for youth to learn new writing styles and techniques through hip hop history, fully immersing themselves in the trends of the past to form what hip hop is today. Youth leave with a better understanding of their identities and use writing as a form of self-care. 

• Graphic Design: Members gain experience in graphic design, editing photographs, designing logos, and creating material for websites and social media.

• RYSING Art Club: A weekly arts program where young people experience different art mediums, arts-based games, and explore their creativity. Open to all skill levels.

• Beat Production: Youth learn the basics of producing beats using Reason software.

• Videography 101: A video production workshop where youth learn the process of and gain skills in filmmaking. From videos as simple as recording a YouTube video to as complicated as making a short film, Videography 101 is a safe space for young artists who want to learn film production. 

• Arts Now: Arts Integration Professional Development: RYSE staff partner with youth as creative leaders to co-facilitate trauma informed creative youth development workshops for educators, teaching artists, and administrators. For more information or to book a workshop for your school or organization, contact mediaarts@rysecenter.org.

• Artist Development: Cultivates the mind, body, and soul of young artists by engaging in dialogue to dissect and challenge song content, enhance performance skills, and provide guidance on music production and recording. Young artists receive support in the creative process and music business.

• ProTools/Engineering: Members learn music production and recording.

• House Band: Members learn music theory and receive instruction and support in live instrumentation, including piano, drums, and guitar.

• Advanced Media Producers Internship Program: RYSE’s Advanced Media Producers (AMP) Internship Program, offers members training in technical and artistic production while receiving support in creative identity development, social consciousness-raising, and leadership development. Members can choose from five artistic areas of concentration that include, video, visual arts, music, performing arts, and event production. AMP interns are paid a stipend and develop as young artists, activists, and community leaders. RYSE staff also coordinate paid opportunities in performance and exhibition as they arise at RYSE and in the community; provide mentorship in curriculum development and facilitation skills to teach peers, teachers, and present at conferences and workshops; and support involvement in the concert career pathways program through our relationship with the UC Theatre. Youth have opportunities to perform music or spoken word at conferences through partnerships with community organizations and agencies in Richmond and Contra Costa County. 

The outcomes the Media, Arts, + Culture Department seeks are:

1. Young people feel loved.

2. Young people construct their own narratives and those of their communities.

3. Young people have emotional, physical, and political safety to acquire tools, skills, and resources they need to understand and change inequities.

4. Systems takeover by next generation leaders committed to a platform for liberation in which cultural work and race are central.

CONTACT A STAFF MEMBER

• Gabriela Yoque, Media, Arts & Culture Director

• Tearra Brintley, Visual Arts Assistant

• Reggie Edmonds, Community Arts Partnership Manager

• Khairee Clark, Studio Technician

• Isaiah Grant, Video Production Assistant

• Collin Edmonds, Media, Arts & Culture Coordinator