Assembly

Each participant in our 4 week gateway offering is engaged in dismantling the dominant narratives of “criminality” through visual and performance art-based storytelling workshops. Participants develop their ability to think, react and tell their stories on their own terms. Moreover, the holistic relationships formed in the context of this initial Assembly offering build toward an empowered sense of self within a thriving community.

Maps to Manifest Program (MMP) is to support teens and young adults through an artistic and leadership development based curriculum. Over the course of 10 week cycles, participants will create outstanding results in areas of their lives that matter most to them in manifesting their ideal life. Created in collaboration with Brooklyn’s DA office and individuals who are court-involved, formerly incarcerated, or otherwise affected by the criminal legal system, this living curriculum is intended to be flexible and adaptable to the immediate needs and wants of the participants, while serving as peer-to-peer diversion and/or an alternative to incarceration.

Our aim is to expand the program’s reach by training participants to be leaders and mentors in their own communities, creating shifts that ripple beyond the scope and timeframe of the original work. Empowering previous participants to be facilitators themselves expands the possibility of reducing recidivism for the instructors as well as those whom they will impact in their own communities.

The bedrock of the Assembly program, Peer Leadership is a 40-week paid program that offers paid opportunities for young people ages 18 - 26 to build upon their storytelling and performance skills. These paid elective opportunities offer deep engagement with Session artists, skill building workshops in arts education, printmaking, photo & video, advocacy and activism, as well as pathways to employment.

Launched in 2020, the Assembly Fellowship program serves as a window to deeper engagement with Recess after commitment is evident throughout the Peer Leadership program. Fellows experience a robust springboard towards their own personal definition of success and stability. Rooted in the Purpose Path developed by Rasu Jilani, and completed by Fellows, this program clearly defines a trajectory tailored specifically to the narrative participants see for their future. The Assembly Fellowship program lasts for one full year beginning with a 4-week course assisting Fellows in building their Purpose Path. Fellows are then required to complete 16 hours of Recess-related work each week throughout their tenure.

Art History Happy Hour is a weekly session in which Peer Leaders use their observational and critical thinking skills to study and discuss art related to the work on view at Recess. Peer Leaders learn from projects by Session Artists, as well as artists working today and artists who were active in major art movements such as the Harlem Renaissance, Abstract Expressionism, and the Black Arts Movement. Each session reflects on the impact of activist struggles on artists, and invites Peer Leaders to explore the possibilities of their creativity to develop individual and group final projects.

Designed by and built in collaboration with Artist & Educator, Kristina Bivona, the print shop at Recess is a fully functional screen print operation that was hand-built by Recess participants. The shop includes a six-color press, a mobile two-color press, and six tabletop presses. We have a library of inks, a clean room for drawing and paper preparation, a washout room, and an exposure room.

The screen printers are trained in multiple print processes. Throughout a peer-leader's tenure in the print shop, they will undertake multiple projects utilizing color separation, image design, print registration, fabric/textile/paper printing. The program regularly engages in collaborations with other arts programs as well as regular collaboration with Session artists. Additionally, each peer leader learns and evolves their printmaking skills by creating their own personal projects. The prints from the shop fold in sculpture, printmaking, book arts, graphic design, commercial, and arts printing to nurture entrepreneurial and professional initiatives through the arts.

This track is focused on forming partnerships and disseminating the messaging and material developed in Track 1 and 2. Peer Leaders identify strategy and curricula as well as determine mission aligned community partnerships. Together, participants design workshops and events to place the generated material.