VOICE YOUR VOICE shares a sample of the projects created by the 2021 Wanda Fullmore Teen Interns in Madison, WI.
All of the Wanda Fullmore teen interns worked with library staff on day-long workshops throughout the summer to dive deep into Madison Public Library's all-age behavior policies in our first effort to co-build youth behavior policy and staff training with Madison youth.
Fifteen of the interns spent two hours per week reflecting on their inner self, working in collaboration with one another, and exploring various avenues of creative expression in this Bubbler workshop series led by Milwaukee-based multidisciplinary artist, George Jones, and flavored with guest appearances by Madison teaching artists Rob "Rob Dz" Franklin and Sam Christensen. The hands-on programming complemented the intensive job readiness training the teens completed with Common Wealth Development in addition to their internship placements within the City of Madison government.
While teen participants are usually focused on creating a final product, Bubbler workshop leaders are more concerned with relationship building, supporting original voices and levels of basic skill development, and extending deeper connections to the community. In this series, students were engaged in sessions covering personal identity during self portrait & mask making workshops, covering public messaging during screen printing & block printing workshops, and topped off with the layers and rhythm of drum making & drum playing workshops. During the final session, we learned to play several basic group rhythms, one of which was recorded as the soundtrack to the video above.
Madison Public Library is committed to resourcing teens in an effort to meet their intellectual and creative needs while making space for their voices to be heard, because youth belong.
