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Reclaim Artist Collective
HOME OF THE AMERICAN GRIOT PROJECT
Our Mission
Through programming that focuses on process over product, the theater and literary arts professionals of
Reclaim Artist Collective (RAC) provide a pathway to empowerment, consciousness-raising, wellness and creative expression for artists and individuals in marginalized communities.
Our Signature Program
RAC founder, Maria James-Thiaw used her unique historiographic poetics method to create the choreopoems Reclaiming My Time: An American Griot Project, and its 2020 Zoom version, RMT 2.0. They are based on the oral histories of real women (griots) who lived through the Jim Crow era. In the same way, organizations can partner with (RAC) to learn this method to develop their own choreopoems or have RAC create one on the topic of their choice. Click here for more information.
THE AMERICAN GRIOT PROJECT
You can be a "griot" too!
Through the American Griot Project Residency Program, you can help history come alive to high school and middle school students in marginalized communities. We need storytellers of all ages to share their experiences. Were you a witness to a historical event? Do you remember the Vietnam War? Did you march to end gun violence? Your story could be used to help students learn history, improve their writing skills and use the art of poetry and theater to inspire others.
The Rev. Dr. Eleanor Moody-Shepherd spoke with audiences of Reclaiming My Time: An American Griot Project about her time as an activist with Martin Luther King Jr and the impact of the Civil Rights movement on today's culture.
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