SCUpresents2016SoloPgs

ARTS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
Courage and the Three C’s in Action
GENERATIONS OF SANTA CLARA
alumni have come to live by the competence,
conscience, and compassion they
cultivated as students of a Jesuit education.
Essentially, these core tenets create effective,
ethical community leaders who live in solidarity
with those who are suffering. But the
three C’s take courage, and social justice art
is a shining example of all that is necessary
to live an actionable life. This is art that records
history, contextualizes culture, exhibits
imagination, and harnesses individual
and social transformation. But more than
that, it is art that courageously generates social
awareness and galvanizes young and old
around social injustice affecting communities
far and wide. This is art that has found
a home on the SCU campus.
ART, SOCIETY, AND JUSTICE
Santa Clara University’s Arts for Social
Justice (ASJ) is a collaborative, interdisciplinary
initiative that raises awareness about
critical matters affecting the collective human
condition—through a wide variety of
art forms both on and off campus—and fosters
dialogue and action in the community.
“Encompassing a wide range of visual
and performing art, our program aims to
raise critical consciousness, build community,
and motivate individuals to promote
social change,” says Butch Coyne, director
of the SCU•Presents ASJ program. “We work
with diverse groups of students, faculty, and
alumni, through the arts, to raise awareness
and affect change by inspiring individuals
to be social justice catalysts in the community
they serve.” This integrated process ultimately
equips students with analytical tools
to understand inequality and the compassion
to stand alongside the marginalized and poor.
While broken into three components—
Outreach, Visiting Artists, and Partnerships—
all programming “expands beyond the University
and impacts not only Santa Clara
students, but our community,” says Coyne.
“Social justice art isn’t just about the SCU
students’ involvement now and after graduation,
but the impact they have on the lives
of those they advocate for as a result of their
artistic expression.”
Through performance and dialogue, the
Outreach component connects students,
faculty, and alumni with local schools and
communities, challenging the young minds
to address relevant social problems like immigration,
poverty, bullying, as well as foster
both awareness and action on the topic. Back
at SCU, the Visiting Artists component engages
all those on campus in a dialogue about
social justice issues with professional artists.
Last year, artist and activist Matthew Works
ignited action among students thanks to his
discussion on poverty and homelessness from
his perspective as a homeless man.
For students, faculty, and staff looking to
obtain grants or develop their own art projects
addressing social justice issues, the Partnership
component aims to make their ideas a
reality.
“Last year, Marissa Martinez ’16 wrote
an original play on race and identity called
Hapa Cup of Sugar,” says Samantha Pistoresi,
coordinator for the program. “Through our
partnership, we were able to present
her beautiful theater piece, which
inspired other students to get
involved, as well as connect our
programming back to the essence
of Santa Clara’s core curriculum.”
Next up? A formal film series focused
on kindling not just conversation
but social change. The first film,
Cartel Land, which follows two
modern-day vigilante groups and
their shared enemy, the murderous
Mexican drug cartels, will screen on
October 3 at 7:30 p.m. in the Music
Recital Hall.
Through ASJ, local middle school
students will be able to experience
Breaking Through, an autobiographical
performance based on the book by the
same name. Written by SCU professor
emeritus Francisco Jimeñez—who
at the age of four illegally crossed the
U.S.-Mexico border with his family in
1947—this compelling tale follows the
family through their migrant worker circuit,
where impermanence, poverty, and precarity
define their daily lives.
As you can see, ASJ transports us into the
reality of the most pressing social issues of our
time. At an elemental level, it promotes competence,
raises consciousness, inspires compassion,
and calls us to advocate courageously.
These values are of the utmost importance
to foster throughout the Santa Clara campus—and
beyond—through all who interact
with campus, its members, and their art. This
is the program dedicated to that end. •
TOP They Should Have Been Playing with Dolls, Cupertino High School
HAPA cup of sugar, SCU student production on race
MIDDLE Lucky Girl, based on the Rape Poems
BOTTOM (l to r) Self Esteem, Del Mar High School
The Environment ASJ School Outreach-Sherman Oaks
Elementary School
Funding is provided through a grant from the Office of the Dean, College of Arts and Sciences at Santa Clara University
18 scu • presents