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Youth Radio and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts have teamed up to bring digital media learning to the Oakland youth community through creative expression about current affairs. The partnership, which began this year with the launch of the Whats Going On…Now (WGON) campaign, offers Youth Radio participants opportunities to be a part of a national arts project, engage in dialogue about social justice, and share their inspiring artistic work with others across the country.
WGON is a digital project designed to link the arts and social justice. The project celebrates the 40th anniversary of Marvin Gaye’s performance of the album at the Kennedy Center, a year after its release in 1972. At its heart, WGON encourages young people to express their views on current events and social struggles in creative ways to create projects that span multiple digital media.
Through Youth Radio’s partnership with ArtsEdge, two Youth Radio participants travelled to Washington DC with Maeven McGovern, Youth Radio’s Community Arts Manager, to the Kennedy Center’s ArtsEdge Youth Summit, where they learned about transmedia storytelling, shared their creative pieces with other students from around the country, and performed at Busboys and Poets, a community gathering place for spoken word poetry. They also received tickets to the May 3rd concert performance of “What’s Going On” and more at the Kennedy Center.
WGON is the first of many such projects in which Youth Radio and the Kennedy Center will be teaming up. Learn more about WGON and ArtsEdge here.