project planning & organization
The PPR refugee art classes did not really require much project planning or organization on my part. The lead teachers had previously collaborated on a cohesive curriculum and were responsible for transporting the necessary art materials each week. Because of this, I was able to focus my project planning and organization energies solely on the book project, which, coincidentally, required an enormous amount of both planning and organization.
At the start of my practicum I was given a draft for the ‘Bhutanese Elders Mural Project’ which contained a general outline of the book contents and some incomplete articles written by the three BuildaBridge teaching artists. Since I was not at all involved with the mural making process which had occurred months prior, I had to immediately familiarize myself with the Bhutanese refugee population. This was a critical first step so I could more fully understand the context of the grasp the importance of this mural project for the elder-participants.
Some initial questions that I took time and care to consider were:
I also spent a good deal of time researching contemporary internet articles about refugees, internationally displaced people (IDPs), and asylum seekers. Before this project, I was not aware of the enormity of this issue on a global level. With the Syrian refugee issue finally “hitting home” and causing controversy at a state and federal level here in the United States, the global refugee crisis’ implications on a micro, local, level was of great interest to me and deepened the significance of my research for this project.
I spent a considerable amount of time brainstorming my ideal “table of contents” for the book – what topical articles and features I wanted to add, what unique visual elements I wanted to create specially for this project, and how I wanted to include pictures that the teaching artists had sent me.
Editing the text that was in the draft was another important task that was time-consuming. None of the text that the teaching artists had written had any citations or references for the information that was shared. Despite multiple attempts to have the teaching artists send me the resources and references that they had used to get information such as historical facts, census data, refugee statistics, etc, this information was not provided to me. Combing through their information and trying to locate their sources was a great frustration and used up a considerable amount of time.
Prior to this book project, I have had very limited experience in designing a book. I have innate design skills, but a graphic design project of this scale tested my artistic abilities. I did extensive internet research on different aspects of writing a book: the typical format and contents, how to get an ISBN number, how to self-publish, and how to print a draft into an actual book. I also looked into small details such as what should be included in a copyright page, how to convert a book into an e-book, and how to sell a book on Amazon. Since I was beginning this project, almost from scratch, this was a lot of information to seek out and apply to this project.
Each week in the office, I started the day with a to-do list that I hoped to accomplish by the end of the day. This list often included communicating updates and posing questions to the teaching artists for clarification on missing details, or holes in the mural timeline. It was a disadvantage to me to have not been directly involved in the art-making experience because I had to piece a lot of disorganized information bits together to understand the bigger picture. Organizing my thoughts and ideas for the final draft with the teaching artists’ rough draft, all while keeping in mind the purpose and vision for the book, kept me excited each week to tackle a new set of challenges.
At the start of my practicum I was given a draft for the ‘Bhutanese Elders Mural Project’ which contained a general outline of the book contents and some incomplete articles written by the three BuildaBridge teaching artists. Since I was not at all involved with the mural making process which had occurred months prior, I had to immediately familiarize myself with the Bhutanese refugee population. This was a critical first step so I could more fully understand the context of the grasp the importance of this mural project for the elder-participants.
Some initial questions that I took time and care to consider were:
- What are the events that led to their settlement in Philadelphia?
- Why are they refugees?
- Why did they resettle here?
- When I learned that the refugees were actually natives of Nepal, I wondered: why were these native-Nepalese living in Bhutan and not Nepal? Why did they identify as Bhutanese?
- If their homeland was Nepal, why were they living in refugee camps? Why were they not able to reintegrate into Nepalese society?
- Why did they live in refugee camps for so long?
- What were some of the traumas and challenges of life in a refugee camp? Of life in South Philadelphia?
- What are the existing refugee resettlement agencies and social support organizations in Philadelphia?
- What role did NSC, PPR, and BuildaBridge play in the lives of the refugees?
- What was the level of engagement of the participants? What did they hope to get out of the art experience?
- Why did they choose to make a mural?
I also spent a good deal of time researching contemporary internet articles about refugees, internationally displaced people (IDPs), and asylum seekers. Before this project, I was not aware of the enormity of this issue on a global level. With the Syrian refugee issue finally “hitting home” and causing controversy at a state and federal level here in the United States, the global refugee crisis’ implications on a micro, local, level was of great interest to me and deepened the significance of my research for this project.
I spent a considerable amount of time brainstorming my ideal “table of contents” for the book – what topical articles and features I wanted to add, what unique visual elements I wanted to create specially for this project, and how I wanted to include pictures that the teaching artists had sent me.
Editing the text that was in the draft was another important task that was time-consuming. None of the text that the teaching artists had written had any citations or references for the information that was shared. Despite multiple attempts to have the teaching artists send me the resources and references that they had used to get information such as historical facts, census data, refugee statistics, etc, this information was not provided to me. Combing through their information and trying to locate their sources was a great frustration and used up a considerable amount of time.
Prior to this book project, I have had very limited experience in designing a book. I have innate design skills, but a graphic design project of this scale tested my artistic abilities. I did extensive internet research on different aspects of writing a book: the typical format and contents, how to get an ISBN number, how to self-publish, and how to print a draft into an actual book. I also looked into small details such as what should be included in a copyright page, how to convert a book into an e-book, and how to sell a book on Amazon. Since I was beginning this project, almost from scratch, this was a lot of information to seek out and apply to this project.
Each week in the office, I started the day with a to-do list that I hoped to accomplish by the end of the day. This list often included communicating updates and posing questions to the teaching artists for clarification on missing details, or holes in the mural timeline. It was a disadvantage to me to have not been directly involved in the art-making experience because I had to piece a lot of disorganized information bits together to understand the bigger picture. Organizing my thoughts and ideas for the final draft with the teaching artists’ rough draft, all while keeping in mind the purpose and vision for the book, kept me excited each week to tackle a new set of challenges.