Reflections on TWR’s Creative Activism Workshop
This is a reflection was written by Alazne Qisar, a youth leader who organized the Creative Activism workshop.
Around April, when we conducted our first ever The Written Revolutions’(TWR) meeting, one of the columnists on our team, Henry Yang came up with an idea to foster creativity within our communities. As we all continued to add to the idea, we decided that using creative mediums as a way to express one’s concerns about various social or political issues was the best debut for TWR’s first-ever virtual workshop.
Throughout the month of July, I witnessed my team work so diligently and meticulously. Henry along with Zehra Zaidi, our creative director, dedicated their time in organizing a workshop that would help inspire students around the world to use their passion for the arts in revolutionising society.
The workshop was held on August 8th, 2020 from 11:45 AM to 3:15 PM and featured two guest speakers, Miranda Krogstad and Ivana Okaro, both of whom are spoken word artists. We were joined by students from countries such as India, UAE, and Romania. We also had students from Hong Kong, Quebec, Ontario, and Alberta.
Ms.Krogstad gave a presentation on how to get started with creative writing and using it to talk about various issues. Ms.Okaro talked about using poetry as a catalyst for change, impact, and awareness. Throughout the workshop, we had open discussions with our wonderful panel and participants about the importance of speaking out for the voiceless and channeling those emotions through poetry, film, short stories, photography, and more.
As students, we are often told “you are too young for politics.”At TWR, we strongly denounce that false narrative. As youth, we are directly impacted by the actions of our governments and we will be the ones living the consequences of those actions. Hence, it is our responsibility to raise our concerns and help in evincing change because reform is always possible if you keep a hopeful mindset and work towards progress. We saw how the passionate young students at the workshop were keen to make a difference in this world and our mission is to amplify their voices through the means of creative expression.
We conducted many fun and thought provoking activities with the participants by splitting them into breakout rooms of four or five other participants, living in different cities, and giving them an image, art, or a quote based prompt. Each participant had to give their own interpretation and must disagree with the previous student’s interpretation. This activity was designed to challenge youth to appreciate and scrutinise the subtle details of artistic expression and comprehend the various facets of the same issue. The problems we face as a society are complex in nature, but we often oversimplify these multidimensional issues, therefore trivialising problems such as racism, oppression, discrimination, war, inequality, poverty, and more.
During this workshop, we had some really insightful discussions with wisdom nuggets such as “don’t fear what will happen if you share your work, fear what will happen if you don’t,” and “sometimes your job as an artist is to be the mouthpiece for unheard cries,” and that sums up not just the workshop but our aim for the future as an organization.
We sincerely thank ActionDignity and YouthPLACE for their support and encouragement which led to a successful workshop. We extend our gratitude to Ms. Krizia Canvas who helped us throughout the entire process and was extremely supportive at the workshop. We are excited to have collaborated with a wonderful organization like ActionDignity for the Creative Activism Workshop and are delighted to announce our second upcoming event– The Debate Tournament/Workshop which will be held on August 22nd.
The August 22nd event is a debating workshop aimed at developing one’s argumentative abilities while inspiring interest in global political and social issues. The workshop comprises two major sections. The first is the presentation part, where we will be hosting speakers to talk to the debaters about the art of argumentation, speaking, and critical thinking. The second part will consist of an actual tournament, where we will give our attendees a platform to apply the practical skills and knowledge they have gained through the presentations.
Through this seminar, we want to help students focus and understand the valuable and impactful voice that they have, the interests and curiosities they have about the political world, and how they as critical thinkers can create change through discussion.
To ensure that people of all demographics have access to the event, the workshop will be free of charge. Additionally, no experience is required. Regardless of whether one is a debating veteran with 6+ years of experience or a newcomer who simply is interested in finding a platform to begin their debating career, everyone is welcome. Attendees can sign up for the workshop using this google form.
The workshop/tournament is open to international participants.
You can learn more about the Debate workshop/tournament on our website. We hope that we can continue to propel our vision to give a platform to youth around the world who are passionate about journalism and activism so as to make a positive and lasting impact in society.
Contact us:
Website: www.thewrittenrevolutions.com
Email: thewrittenrevolutions@gmail.com
Instagram: @thewrittenrevolutions
BACK TO BLOG
