THE INCLUSIVE EXCELLENCE HUB
5/01/24 - 8/25/24
2515 CHANNING WAY, BERKELEY CA 94720
FYPC's flyer for our opening reception and artist panel at UC Berkeley's Inclusive Excellence Hub; flyer design is modeled from the FYPC badges each of our members hold as official members of FYPC
In the Spring of 2024, FYPC was invited to UC Berkeley's campus to install 36 photographs from the We Are Healing series and host a public panel for our opening reception, with our lead artists: Edward Castro and Ashley Papias. FYPC traveled to the Bay Area in April of 2024, installed the photographs across three separate rooms and held the panel on the 1st of May, in celebration of National Foster Youth Awareness Month.
Our panel, moderated by Michael Papias, explored the creative process of our artists as they built the We Are Healing project. Audience members in attendance got to hear directly from the artists the importance of sharing identity on creative projects, how foster youth art practices impact a cultural art product, and the need for the larger art and academic community to acknowledge the labor that is produced by foster youth.
Photographs from FYPC's 2024 Summer installation at UC Berkeley's Inclusive Hub of Excellence
The Inclusive Excellence Hub is excited to announce an Opening Reception and Q&A for our upcoming May exhibition, featuring a collection of work from The Foster Youth Photo Crew. In partnership between The Foster Youth Photo Crew (FYPC), Journey House's Visual and Performing Arts Program, A Home Within, and The California Catalyst Center, over the Summer of 2023 a series of photo essays were produced by FYPC to capture the experiences of former foster youth using music as an art practice for healing. FYPC has generously loaned a collection of photographs from their We Are Healing series to exhibit artwork led by former foster youth in celebration of May, National Foster Youth Awareness Month!
The Hub will exhibit these photographs inside of 103 Conference Room, 105 Lounge and 105C Meeting Room during the month of May.
Please join us on May 1st as we host our Opening Reception and Q&A with the artists that put this collection of work together. Folks are encouraged to come with questions for FYPC and learn more about this collection of work directly from the artists!
For both Ashley and Edward, this was their first time speaking on a panel and for Edward, it was his first time stepping foot onto a university campus. FYPC wants to emphasize that our approach to the foster youth art practice, is two sided---impacting the observer and impacting our artists. The warm welcoming our members received when in Berkeley was truly special and being given the space to speak freely about our frustrations towards academia, the art world, and social inequities---underscores the value that community exhibition spaces provide to our members and the public. We sincerely hope to create more socially engaged spaces like these in the future, while working with Hosts that are true in their commitment to lifting up community voices.
Below is correspondence from the Inclusive Excellence Hub, emailed to students and faculty across UC Berkeley's campus, highlighting our artist panel and exhibition:
One of the 36 pieces installed in FYPC's Summer 2024 UC Berkeley Exhibition
FYPC would like to acknowledge the labor and advocacy of folks in Berkeley that assisted in establishing this exhibition opportunity. We sincerely want to thank the Inclusive Excellence Hub, specifically the Inclusive Excellence Hub Coordinator Mariela Cruz Aguilera and the Hub's Artist in Residence Elena Ojeda, for extending the invitation to exhibit our work on UC Berkeley's campus.
We would also like to thank UC Berkeley's Hope Scholar program, led by Charly King Beavers and Rebeca Borges, for their support in helping put our event together.
Lastly, and most importantly, we would like to thank the foster youth community member on UC Berkeley's campus that began the conversation to install our exhibit---Anna Judson----advocating on our behalf to incorporate foster youth artwork onto UC Berkeley's campus. This exhibition and opportunity for our members would not have been possible if it was not for Anna's advocacy. Her commitment to foster youth is present in her selflessness, always fighting for the larger foster youth community---thank you Anna!
If you are interested in having our work displayed in your community space, or would like for our members to speak on a panel, or any creative opportunity for this project to interact with your organization/event---please reach out to:
Michael Papias