Thanks to donations from you (our beloved community), our crew of six artists and food justice activists traveled to Philadelphia PA this past October to lead a workshop entitled “Art & Movement Building: Strategies for Food Systems Change”. Our workshop took place at the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group’s (NESAWG) It Takes A Region conference.
At the conference, we trained thirty people in arts integration and popular education activities focused around food justice that they can take home and lead in their own communities. We also now have a framework for a workshop that can be led in other communities. Another major outcome of this trip is continued collaboration using the arts to engage Buffalo Public School students in understanding why some of our communities are more disconnected to growing our own food and healthy eating than others.
In addition to our workshop, we were inspired, motivated, and affirmed in our efforts through participating in these additional conference activities:
- A West Philly Urban Farm Tour and visit to Sankofa Farm;
- A rally to demand community control of land, led by Soil Generation (a Philadelhpia-based network of black and brown farmers), held at Philadelphia’s City Hall;
- A workshop on employing the just transition framework in food systems work;
- A workshop on farmworker activism and laws; and
- An interactive workshop called “Developing Diverse Friendships” led by to two teenage girls from Buffalo.
Or for more information about NESAWG’s It Takes A Region conference, visit: http://nesawg.org/conference.