Civic Engagement in the Wake of Katrina

How to Raise an Army (of Creative Young People)

Mat Schwarzman, with illustrator Keith Knight

So which of your spectators
Should you then follow, actors?
I would suggest
The discontented.

—Poet/Educator/Activist Bertolt Brecht

PROLOGUE: This is a report from the cultural battlefields of New Orleans written in July 2007 and then updated approximately one year later. By the time this reaches you, our circumstances will have changed again, perhaps many times over, so we need to talk quickly. No conclusions are possible yet, but a few of my comrades and I can share some of our thoughts and experiences in-progress . . .

July 2007

My name is Mat Schwarzman, and I am the founder of CREATIVE FORCES, an educational theater ensemble made up of New Orleans high school students and mentored by a team of adult teaching artists and schoolteachers. It's been almost two years since Hurricane Katrina touched our shores and set off a wave of destructive events unprecedented in our nation's history. Creative Forces' four-year mission, begun this month, is to help rebuild our city's broken education system by introducing more creativity into the curriculum. Currently, we number eleven (six teenagers and five adults), but we plan for many more to join us. As with any campaign, we have allies, a strategic timetable, a core group of inspired believers, and a long-term vision of success. Our enemies are the fixed and limiting attitudes that we as New Orleanians carry to school, home, play, and work and the negative assumptions we carry around about our neighbors and public systems, especially schools. Ideas, however intangible, are the most powerful things in the world.

The strategies and visions contained in this report came from our group and have been filtered through my personal perspective. I was raised far from here in suburban New Jersey, and I have been living in New Orleans only since 2001, but it did not take me long to realize what everyone here already knew: the failed school system and the failed levees are only the latest in a very long series of staggering public systems failures that dates back decades. Without going into the specific reasons behind these events, suffice it to say that we adults have become so accustomed to the failing public schools, collapsing roads, unreliable mass transit, and multigenerational unemployment that we have a standard sarcastic phrase to describe the situation: “Close enough for jazz.”¹ Translation: when it comes to New Orleans, substandard is all we're ever going to get.

The situation is so bad that it is sometimes hilarious. For example, for the last several months Mr. Sidney D. Torres IV has become a great local celebrity. For many, he is outshining elected officials, athletes, and even Hollywood actors (the new locals Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie) in popularity. Why? Because last year his company got a contract to collect New Orleans' trash, and he took the radical step of actually doing his job better than it had been done before. Many of our streets are the cleanest they have been in anyone's memory, and the sanitation workers are taking a lot of pride in their work. Health violations are down, and every day people are walking around in places they never used to and are not seeing trash. Mr. Torres told our local newspaper that he has been overwhelmed by a flood of cards, media attention, and personal thanks from a populace both astonished and grateful.

New Orleanians have become so accustomed to smelling and seeing garbage that we have forgotten what it is like to have clean streets. It is the same with the school system. If it were possible to remind people, even in little ways, that learning can be joyful, interesting, and relevant, then perhaps over time students, parents, teachers, administrators, leaders, and the people as a whole would decide to organize ourselves and ensure that nothing less is allowed.

I love New Orleans and the things that make us so special, but I am convinced we have to somehow flip our entire paradigm so that nothing less than excellence will be close enough for jazz.² I understand that in the current context this may sound trite. Our people are facing enormous political, economic, and physical battles in the streets and boardrooms of the city that will decide the breadth and depth of the rebuilding process. But to the extent that we as democratic citizens will only get what we believe we deserve we are also in a long-term cultural battle to win over our own hearts and minds and demand a world-class education system.

Young people are the logical catalyst for this change. They have the most to gain from it. Plus, this kind of broad-based cultural transformation requires long-term changes in everyday habits and behaviors over an extended period of time, and generally speaking young people are better equipped for this. Young people with a vision for change will also be well positioned to develop alternatives and advocate for them over the long haul. It seems obvious: New Orleans must tap the power of our teenagers as creative resources and leaders.

But how to get this going? How now
To show the knotting and casting of fate's net?
And that it has been knotted and cast by men?
The first thing you have to learn
Is the art of observation.

—Bertolt Brecht

Our Strategy

We are Creative Forces, an ensemble of teen peer educators and adult mentors, and our four-year mission is to infuse more creativity into education. We conduct original music theater workshops and perform plays in schools, in community centers, and for educational groups throughout New Orleans and beyond. We use our state and national curriculum standards, but our goal is to convey a larger message: high schools must do much more than teaching to the tests. For our children to succeed as adults and citizens in our community of the future, it is vital that they can not only understand information but can master and manipulate it through creativity. Our motto expresses this concept as an equation: Information + Imagination = Knowledge.

As an ensemble of actors, singers, musicians, poets, dancers, and storytellers, we know that the tools of the theater are extremely effective in developing creativity and communicating vital information. Since our very beginnings, human beings have sung, danced, spoken, and played instruments with one another in order to interpret, remember, and convey what is most important to us. We can use theater skills to help our peers think, learn, and interact more effectively.

Because we believe that in the theater it is always better to demonstrate than explain, Creative Forces' young people are the objects as well as the subjects of change. Our educational workshops are co-facilitated by teens and adults, and our plays feature students as writers, performers, and protagonists. Luther Gray, a master African drummer, educator, and founding member of the Creative Forces faculty, puts it this way.

It's going to take at least ten years to rebuild New Orleans, and that is probably optimistic. That makes it these young people we are working with now who have the most at stake in the outcome. They need to be talking to each other much more than we adults need to be talking at them.

The stakes are astronomical. If young people have an investment in the future of the city, they will help protect it. If they are shut out again, like they were before Katrina, they are going to tear the city apart.

Early on we talked about creating a philosophy, a higher aesthetic purpose for our work together than just helping their peers understand the tests better. What emotional effect do they/we want to have? Healing was what we decided upon—first ourselves and then others. We want to help our young people, and our people in general, become whole again.

Currently, we focus on two academic areas, science and math. Our reasons:

1. A lot of science and math subject matter can be made more interesting using drama, dance, poetry, and music.

2. Well-paid science and math workers of the future will require creativity and imagination in order to succeed.

3. Incorporation of the arts into science and math learning is at the forefront of twenty-first-century educational research.

Recent studies by the National Science Board and the American Academy for the Advancement of Science suggest that science instruction in American public schools compares poorly with science instruction internationally; and that most science curricula for American schoolchildren fail to meet the most basic criteria necessary to engage students and encourage learning. These include: (a) providing a sense of purpose, (b) taking into account student ideas and experiences, and (c) engaging students in relevant phenomena. Infusing the creative arts into science and math curricula can address each of these concerns.

A biology professor at Xavier University of Louisiana, Dr. Barbara Green, was the first scientist to consult with us in developing our musical theater pieces. Although Dr. Green was not very experienced at integrating “theater” into her teaching as such, as a twelve-year teaching veteran she had learned a lot about what interested her students.

Long before I was approached by Creative Forces, I had learned to use storytelling in my teaching. I found students not only became more engaged in what I was teaching, they were better able to generalize the information when I made them apply it in real life situations. Without calling it “theater,” I had naturally gravitated towards it as a learning device. I just called it “case study.”

The connection may not be obvious, but once you realize it, it is very powerful: Biology is the observation and study of the processes of life, and so is Theater.

We began piloting the program with a group of Creative Forces peer educators at the New Orleans Charter Science and Math High School a few months ago, drawing on the traditional model of a touring repertory theater company. Full membership will be at fifteen members in the troupe, and individuals are admitted based on an audition and interview. Each peer educator has to “multitask” as needed while focusing on particular areas of performance, management, or writing. Peer educators are paid a stipend, receive professional development support, and get to travel around the city, region, and country to perform and present. Parents and family members are involved as chaperones, guest lecturers, advocates, and co-evaluators. The group is set to perform for hundreds—and one day thousands—of children and teens after school and during the summer each year.

The U.S. Army says it is the place for young people to “be all that you can be.” Creative Forces also allows teenagers to become part of a cohesive, highly trained group of individuals dedicated to a higher purpose, in this case the reform of New Orleans' educational system. We offer some of the same kinds of benefits as the military (pay, travel, and professional development) while pointing ourselves in a very different philosophical direction. As we declare twice a year when we induct and graduate peer educators, “Knowledge and beauty, peace and justice, are the most powerful forces in the universe.”

We are still a very new group, and given the unstable situation in schools and community organizations throughout New Orleans today much has yet to be finalized, but we are moving forward with ambition, hope, and faith things will work out. We are setting up a kind of “touring circuit” of after-school and summer programs at schools, churches, and organizations. We are also talking and beginning to work with a small group of our colleagues to see if we can spread our approaches and resources to other community sites and schools throughout the city so that we can reach many more peer educators and young audiences each year.

From the beginning, we realized that the processes of art, as well as its products, could be useful to us as educators, particularly when it comes to teaching math. Inspired by the groundbreaking work of the Algebra Project in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and an inventive physical science teacher at Science and Math High School named Margo London, the ensemble has begun to experiment with the use of African drums to teach physical science equations. As Ms. London, now another member of Creative Forces adult leadership team, opines:

I know, for me personally, my love of music and dance and my love of science are completely connected to one another. I recognize that in our society there is this perceived split, but that doesn't mean it has to be there. In actuality, being an artist is very similar to being a scientist, and when I can step back, I realize both are essentially about the same thing: patterns.

To say it in a fancier way, by linking the physical sensation of playing drums with the cognitive process of manipulating math equations, I believe we can help students—many of whom are highly physical, kinesthetic learners—better understand and remember what they need to learn.

We knew from the beginning that documenting our program thoroughly was going to be important. For the Creative Forces program to have a broad effect, we will have to pass on what we learn to others in other places. We hired video producer Matthew Rosenbeck to act as our chronicler.

When I document Creative Forces, I always have multiple audiences in my mind. First, I am gathering data on the students and the program for our evaluators. Second, I am gathering key moments to pass on our approaches to other teachers and teaching artists. And, third, because I personally find their life stories so inspiring and compelling, I want to produce a documentary about the young people for a general audience. It might sound a little complicated and multilayered to accomplish, but it is the reality of life in New Orleans today.

First Recruits

At a recent Creative Forces workshop, five of the founding members of the ensemble had a chance to share their thoughts about themselves, the program, and the state of public education in New Orleans.

Roque Caston (Writer, Actor, Class of 2009): “The number one thing I do, every day of the year, is write, but in Creative Forces I've done a lot more. I act, I sing, I do some writing, too, whatever needs to be done. In one of our plays I portray three very different roles: a goofy doctor, a good friend, and a highly disciplined basketball coach. At first, this was hard and I wanted to quit, because I really just want to write, but they needed someone to step up and it turned out I kind of enjoyed it.”

Rose Gilliam (Singer, Actor, Company Manager, Class of 2010): “In New Orleans, students are not encouraged when they know the answers, but when we went to another city the kids were encouraging and they applaud the other students. I was shocked. I asked one little girl ‘What makes you all study so hard?’ And she told me ‘We want to do something with our lives.’ And I wondered why there aren't any kids in New Orleans like that.”

Donnanice Newman (Writer, Performer, Class of 2008): “I live in New Orleans East, and my family is one of only three living in our entire subdivision. Think about what it's like coming home to a ghost town every night and waking up there again every morning, and you'll have a taste of what life is like for me right now. That's why I participate in Creative Forces. I'm not only giving hope to other children, I'm giving hope to myself.”

Will Powell Jr. (Composer, Musician, Actor, Class of 2009): “Creative Forces for me has been this kind of beautiful unfolding puzzle that keeps growing and changing every day. At first, it was just this after school program I would go to, none of us really knew each other. One day I was sitting at the piano and someone asked me how I felt that day, so I just start playing something. Then this girl sitting next to me, who turns out to be Brandy, she says she's got a poem she wrote that might go along with my music, and she reaches into her bag and starts singing with me. It was her song (entitled ‘Do I Have the Right?’) that really got us thinking about the role we wanted to play in the program as leaders.”

Brandy Thomas (Singer, Songwriter, Class of 2007): “I sing because it makes me a better person. Before, nothing seemed to fit, but when I sing everything comes together and I see the role I was meant to play in this world. The music I write is supposed to speak to people at a higher level. I don't write just to send ‘a message.’ If you are interested in what I am talking about, you will get something from it. It may not be the same thing as I meant when I wrote it, and it may not be the same thing as the person sitting next to you, but you will get a feeling from it that you can use.”

Key Allies

Beyond the teen members and adult mentors of Creative Forces, we are developing a network of allies who contribute their expertise, resources, and wisdom to enable the ensemble to function effectively. They help us develop and refine our curriculum and plays, provide needed program facilities and staff time, collaborate with us on projects, and act as community sponsors.

Staffas Broussard (Professor, University of New Orleans, and Creative Forces “Math Officer”): “The standard math and science curriculum focuses almost exclusively on lower order types of thinking—formulas and facts—not how to put those formulas and facts together in the context of life. There's almost nothing in the curriculum that helps students develop higher order skills, to prioritize or make judgments. But I can think of a hundred ways to make a performance that requires you—either as artist or as audience—to make decisions and judgments based on an understanding of core curriculum material.”

Carol Bebelle (Ashé Cultural Arts Center, Creative Forces Community Partner): “It's about solving problems. If we have learned nothing else from the aftermath of Katrina, we know that life can throw a lot at you all at one time, and your ability to respond in a creative, positive, and determined way—even when things seem to be at their worst—is an important key to life. What I envision is a group of young people who, whatever particular song or poem or monologue they may be performing, are underneath it all teaching their peers about this ancient art of problem solving.”

Jane Wholey (Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools): “Two years after Katrina, only half of our schools are up and running. It's time for students to claim their rightful role in restructuring the school system. Decision makers can learn so much from children; they are experts on the schools in this city.”

Our Arsenal

In order to move hearts and minds, we are building a repertoire of proven Creative Forces educational workshops and plays. This is both the material that we will perform and the legacy we will pass on to others. We use the “CRAFT” (Contact, Research, Action, Feedback, Teaching) methodology and a graphic textbook entitled the Beginner's Guide to Community-Based Arts to guide our creative process.

We received our first two assignments from Creative Forces science officers Dr. Green and Ms. London a few months ago. We were to help students learn: (a) in physical science, the “speed equation” (speed equals distance divided by time); and (b) in biology, the workings of the pulmonary system. All of us will admit that at first we were stumped. We knew how important the information was, but how could we use music and theater to help students really sit up and care?

Six months later we are happy to report the creation of our first two educational music and theater pieces: the Drum Time workshop and Lifelines, a play. It took more than one hundred hours of collaborative brainstorming, research, rehearsal, test performances and feedback to refine these first two pieces, but we did it, and we are on a roll. Thanks to our initial tryout performances, we have requests to tour to more than a dozen middle school classrooms and youth programs around the city and to travel to conferences and gatherings of educators and young people across the region and country.

Drum Time: A forty-minute interactive curriculum that uses African hand drums to teach twenty-five to thirty middle school students both the formula for calculating speed and the role of culture in transmitting vital information. Led by a team of five peer educators and one adult mentor, the main element of the workshop is a series of speed trials in which students race by playing drums and then use the speed equation (speed equals distance over time) to determine the winners. We also teach students an indigenous New Orleans rhythm and dance, the Bamboula, as we lead them in an infectious chanting of the speed equation. We have found the workshop to be a deceptively simple and effective way to engage students who are otherwise unengaged.

Lifelines: A forty-minute curriculum for twenty-five to thirty middle school students led by five peer educators that uses a short play with music and sound to teach about the pulmonary system, specifically asthma. Based on the life of one of the members of Creative Forces, the play has three scenes: first, when the protagonist is a child and learns about her asthma for the first time; second, when she becomes a teenager and rebels against those who want to educate her about her asthma; and, third, the night she almost has to die in order to come to grips with her life as an adult asthmatic. In a short period of time, the play can spark lots of questions, dialogue, and research assignments about the pulmonary system. The Creative Forces peer educators return to follow up with the students over the next few days.

Our Next Moves

Your task, actors, is to be
Explorers and teachers of the art of dealing with people.
Knowing their nature and demonstrating it you teach them
To deal with themselves. You teach them the great art
Of living together.

—Bertolt Brecht

July 2007

In the few short days it has taken for me to write this report, many more losses have taken place in the community. In one day's newspaper alone, Dillard University, already one of the city's most flood-damaged universities, is being investigated by the accreditation commission. The killer of a beloved local musician and youth mentor is going free because a group of teen witnesses is too frightened to testify, despite the fact that the shooting was witnessed by dozens of people. Post-Katrina public school data are already suggesting that a new “separate but equal” segregated reality is taking shape in the different New Orleans public school systems. Make no mistake about it, a war is going on in New Orleans, a war of attrition, and the winners will inherit the city.

We, the members of Creative Forces, will draw on our creativity, our artistic skills, our anger, our frustration and, as artists have done since time began, channel and transform them into something useful and beautiful.

Wish us luck, reader. Stay tuned.

EPILOGUE: April 2008. It is almost a year since I wrote that report. Much has changed, and much has remained the same. Chaos and duplicity still reign in many quarters, but it seems inevitable now that New Orleans will rise again and perhaps be better for the experience, at least in some important ways. The question now is, how long will it take and who will be able to last long enough to benefit?

We, the teens and adults of Creative Forces, have hung on together: striving, working, improving, expanding, and reaching hundreds of children in New Orleans with valuable information and (if I do say so myself) inspiration through our “edutaining” performances and workshops. The prospects for the future of the program are highly positive.

Meanwhile, the culture wars of New Orleans continue. In the paper today, there is a wide-ranging discussion about three recent corruption scandals involving local legislators, district attorneys, and judges, and Mr. Sidney D. Torres IV, owner of SDT Waste and Debris Services, is referred to as a likely candidate for the city's highest office.

END

To stay in touch, visit www.xroadsproject.org.

Creative Forces is a joint project of the National Performance Network and the Crossroads Project for Art, Learning, and Community. Major support is provided by the Ford Foundation.

CRAFT Methodology: Drawing on the fields of art, education, and community organizing, the Crossroads Project has established a basic framework for implementing and evaluating community-based arts activities.

CONTACT: Cultivate trust, mutual understanding, and commitment as a foundation for your creative partnership.

RESEARCH: Gather information about the people, places, and issues you are working with.

ACTION: Produce a new work of art that benefits the community.

FEEDBACK: Spark reflection, dialogue, and organizing to spread the impact of the new work.

TEACHING: Pass on skills to sustain the impact.

NOTES

The epigraphs are from Bertolt Brecht, “Speech to Danish Working-Class Actors on the Art of Observation,” in Bertolt Brecht Poems, 1913–1956, edited by John Willett and Ralph Manheim (London: Eyre Methuen, 1976), 233–38.

1. As an important aside, I should mention that I hear the expression used by white New Orleanians and black New Orleanians about equally.

2. And how did jazz, one of the most elegant and grounded musical systems on earth, become associated with carelessness, anyway?

Thanks to Keith Knight, Bill Cleveland, the Crossroads Project advisers, and the folks at New Village Press for their ongoing partnerships. Thanks also to the staff, peer educators, partners, and families of Creative Forces that were not mentioned. And special thanks to creative counselor Mimi Zarsky. All these people contributed to the content of this essay.