The room fills with movement, with passion, and with power as members of the Winston-Salem Youth Arts Institute speak their life stories.
Their words shock: “I stand here with a fiery heart.” Their words reveal: “Love didn’t love me back.” They speak of love and faith, of fear and violence, of sex and abstinence. They speak the truth of their lives.
Since 2002, approximately 150 youth have participated in WSYAI, a program that brings professional artists to mentor youth authors who, according to the mission statement, “publish, stage, and film their life experiences so that they can transform their lives, become leaders, and effect change in the world.”
“The program began as a way to give young people a voice in the youth violence prevention effort,” explains the Rev. Lynn Rhoades, executive director of WSYAI.
This summer, teens created 180 pieces of literature, says Creative Director Nathan Ross Freeman. First, he gives them exercises to help them write without editing themselves, he says, “the idea is to find their voice.” They also study structure through poems, lyrics, raps, and monologues, and then adapt these to music and dance for a series of performances.
“It’s about commitment; it’s very intense, it’s very fast-paced,” Freeman
says. “I have to listen very closely to each one of them, and they teach me how to teach them.”
“I love writing,” says Bryana McCorkle, 15, who has participated for four years. She admits to being shy, but with Freeman’s guidance, McCorkle learned to speak
with her diaphragm. “It helps with public speaking.” Freeman has high expectations, she says, and “that motivates us to go on. He’s also allowing us to get our work out to the world.”
And the learning goes both ways. As the youth learn to speak about their lives, they share their stories with the Winston-Salem Police Department Rookie Training Program, the National Drop Out Prevention Annual Conference, the NC Alternative Education Conference, the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education, and the Department of Juvenile Justice and Crime Prevention.
Another youth stands to speak, and her words resound with pure hope: “I am that dark polished onyx gem; I’m also the butterfly that passes by your window.”
For more information, go to wsyai.org.