Arts educator and poet Arielle John exudes an aura of intensity and focus, whether performing spoken word on stage, talking about human rights activism or describing her work with teenagers. It's little wonder that she's been accepted by the prestigious Goldsmiths, University of London, to pursue an MA in performance and culture.
However, she needs to find $228,000 in order to pursue her dream.
The 27-year-old has been involved in arts education and youth advocacy for a number of years. It began when she worked with Arts-in-Action, an applied theatre arts organisation at UWI, St Augustine. A teenage interest in social justice and human rights activism initially led to her studying law through the University of London's International Program.
Then John discovered a passion for performance poetry. It "ultimately led me to spend more time at the theatre department at UWI than within my own programme," she said.
"Performing allows me to do the same kind of advocacy work that I wanted to accomplish as a lawyer, but with a sense of immediacy and direct action."
John said her desire to impact lives led her to study theatre and social change at the City University of New York.
The idea of art that challenges and questions the status quo remained a guiding principle for her work as an emerging artist. "I wrote and developed my first one-woman show, Cascadoo, as a thesis study examining Caribbean women's narratives through transatlantic movement and migration, and definitions of 'home' for a people whose lives seem to be perpetually transient."
John also spent three years working as a teaching assistant at the college, mentoring high school students who were taking an introductory college theatre course, and various other additional teaching opportunities.
"After graduation, I began working with the Brooklyn College Community Partnership as a teaching artist, facilitating after-school workshops with at-risk youth in poetry and theatre. This particular environment allowed for much meaningful dialogue and exchange with the students, leading to the development of powerful ethnographic writing and performance activities in the school."
She continued, "In 2014 in my Brooklyn neighbourhood I launched The Lagniappe Project which involved an archiving process through photography, that sought to capture the West Indian community being threatened by displacement due to the rapid gentrification of the area.
"The photographs were taken during our annual block party as a statement of presence and a claiming of space, all in the theatre of the street. Prints of the images were distributed to community members in addition to an online gallery with public access."
John said she was intrigued by the ability of the immigrant West Indian community to transfer culture from one region to another, "as largely demonstrated by the preparation and practices surrounding the annual West Indian Labor Day Parade in Brooklyn, Notting Hill Carnival and Caribana in Toronto. I have partnered with a Brooklyn-based arts organisation, caribBeing, to develop ongoing work and research into Carnival celebrations and what they mean in a removed immigrant context, their relevancy and new developments, particularly in such a volatile community."
John represented T&T in the 2008 Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam competition, and she was also a 2009 finalist in its Speak Green environmental poetry competition held in Chicago.
She was a valued member of the Brooklyn College Poetry Slam Team, which placed second in America at the National Inter-College Poetry Slam (CUPSI) in 2013. John was a 2015 Callaloo Fellow (Oxford University) and is the author of an electronic chapbook Songs in a Strange Land.
John has worked on a number of productions, including the writing, directing and performance of a devised work titled All Halal Trucks go to Heaven, a critique of American Islamophobia, as well as directing Ann Wuehler's Doll Cargo, a short-play that offers a troubling narrative of American women who are trafficking other young women for prostitution.
John is the creative director of the 2 Cents Movement, a performing-arts non-profit which pursues youth developmental work through the use of spoken word poetry, involving a variety of social engagement initiatives. The group collaborates with the NGC Bocas Lit Fest annually to stage poetry and spoken word workshops at schools and poetry slams, sponsored by Courts and First Citizens, respectively, for secondary schools and the wider public.
"I've been finding innovative ways to use the existing culture and technology to motivate young people to think critically, express themselves creatively and act positively in changing their world. Part of my strategy as a creative has been to approach theatre with an aim to explore multiculturalism and the performance of power."
John said when she finishes the MA, she will continue to teach, and plans to go wherever she can be of service.
First, however, there's that small matter of the $228,000. As part of her fund-raising efforts, she has started a GoFundMe drive; donors can also contribute via RBC Account #100002172094287.
more info
Go to Arielle John's GoFundMe page at gofundme.com/ariegoesgold, or call 490-8876.