Project Girl: Media Literacy & Empowerment

Several Naropa art therapy students fulfilled their 2009-2010 practicum experience or civic engagement requirement in the Community Art Studio in conjunction with the Boulder Youth Body Alliance.  Boulder Youth Body Alliance (BYBA) empowers youth to reclaim a positive body image. Through a variety of grassroots projects and activities, teens take action, reclaim their voices, and make a positive difference in their communities. BYBA peer educators and activists learn how to stop trying to change their bodies and work to change the world instead.

A variation of a national program called Project Girl was offered to middle school and high school girls in Boulder County.  Project Girl (PG) is an after-school program that combines art and media literacy into a unique educational program aimed at encouraging adolescent girls to become more critical consumers of contemporary media advertising and entertainment. The purpose of PG is to help girls become literate in all media forms—TV, internet, movies, magazines, newspapers, billboards, books, product labels, and music—so that they control the interpretation of what they see or hear rather than letting the interpretation control them.

To read all about the hard work of Naropa students and Project Girl

check out the blog: projectgirlboulder.blogspot.com 

or watch the video below created by PG practicum student Chelsea O'Neil

Photos from the Project Girl Exhibition on the Naropa campus:

Women in the Arts Documentary

In a predominantly female field, sometimes it is nice to hear the voices of other women.  The documentary Who Does She Think She Is?  follows the lives of 5 women who are maintaining a relationship between motherhood and art making.  Our program is full of mothers-to-be, new mothers, and experienced mothering extraordinaires (we have some great fathers too) who are attempting to juggle their commitment to the field of art therapy, their own artist identities, and their educational and professional goals.  This film is a wonderful look at expectations and conflicts that may arise in the lives of women when they attempt to "have it all."  For more information about the film, watch the trailer below or visit whodoesshethinksheis.net.