The Issue: Limited artistic outlets for youth in low-income communities
Three disparate locations: Bethlehem, Palestine; Cape Town, South Africa; and South Chicago, IL. Though the youth in each community speak different languages, have different cultures, and come from different backgrounds, they all face one common problem: poverty, oppression and their dehumanizing effects. Economic and political hardship makes it difficult to obtain the basic necessities, including food and shelter, but it also prevents youth from identifying and building on their talents.
Creative outlets can help young people express themselves and foster self-empowerment. Palestine, South Africa, and Chicago each have established community theaters, music traditions, and museums to tell their stories. Building an infrastructure to connect young people with professional artistic training and resources will give them a way to showcase their art and culture to the world and inspire social change across communities.
Innovative portable music studios through the Solidarity Studios Fund
Solidarity Studios is a nonprofit organization working to foster collaborative social change through music.
Its unique program brings production studio equipment to local arts organizations in three cities. These
innovative production studios are small enough to fit in a backpack, and contain one laptop, one set
of portable studio-monitor speakers, one set of monitor headphones, one microphone, one mini MIDI
keyboard, and one drum pad.
Each student at Solidarity Studios’ partner organizations get a chance to create their own original, fully mixed music album using this gear. Through digital and in-person interaction, Solidarity Studios will connect the artists to collaborate and support each other on a regular basis. In addition, the Solidarity Studios teamfacilitates classes on creating original music and will produce a series of short documentaries highlighting the musicians’ personal stories and the parallels that exist across the communities. These will be distributed digitally and at film festivals to showcase students’ challenges and efforts at making better lives for themselves through youth-led creative endeavors.
Give the kids a voice: give to the Solidarity Studios Fund at CAAP!