BAVC Blog
August 14, 2012
Written by: Chris Runde
Since March of this year, musicians and filmmakers in BAVC’s Next Gen youth programs have been contributing to a nationwide project focusing on the high school dropout crisis in the United States. Supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, American Graduate is a public media initiative created in response to the staggering 1.3 million young people who drop out of high school each year. The project engages with 68 public broadcasting stations and 300 community partners throughout the country to create locally-based solutions and media content.
Working in partnership with KQED, youth from BAVC’s Factory and BUMP Records programs were recruited to create work that documents the state of the American educational system as experienced by the students in it. Artists in BUMP Records recently completed a compilation of music that explores the complexity of the situation in Oakland, California. Touching on topics like the links between education level and income/incarceration, student alienation, and the challenges faced by teachers working in the system, the songs approach difficult subject matter with nuance and honesty. The album, An American Graduate, can be downloaded for free at BUMP Records’ Bandcamp site: http://bumprecords.bandcamp.com/
In support of the album release and larger project goals, BUMP artists Bhindi G, JustKidding and 3ss3ns3 performed a short selection of songs from An American Graduate on Saturday, August 18 at Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland.
Visit: KQED's Sound Cloud site to listen to the album.
I’m writing from the Embarcadero YMCA, (www.ymcasf.org/embarcadero) which has run a program for teens who have dropped out or been kicked out of high school for 34 years. The program is called Youth Chance High School and the website above is a video we shot last year about the program. Students earn high school diplomas, gain vocational skills and are connected to counselors and mentors who help them reshape their pathways to adulthood. I’m interested in connecting the students to the American Graduate program and BAVC…is that possible?