Cailla Quinn
Cailla Quinn received bachelor degrees in photography and psychology at Parsons School of Design and Eugene Lang College. Over the next 5 years, she photographed Plum Island extensively and lived in the black and white darkroom. Focusing on the influence images have on the individual and collective levels, she built up a portfolio that revolved around themes of memory, forgotten craft, and the relationship between a person and a place. During this time, Cailla assisted portrait photographer Platon and, upon completion of her studies, began working for The Magnum Foundation and award-winning photographer Susan Meiselas. She has most recently become the Assistant Director of ART START, a non-profit that values and nurtures the voices, hearts, and minds of New York City’s most vulnerable youth through the creative process. Her goal is to work for World Press Photo located in Amsterdam and eventually become a freelance curator and event producer.
I began volunteering with ART START in 2008, with a self-cen-tered, self-fulfilling desire to share my love for the arts. Thanks to my family, I was raised in a household where art supplies were at my disposal and creative endeavors were constantly encouraged. I have to admit, I went into my first workshop with a naïve perspective, but it didn’t take long to get a wake up call. It wasn’t about me, and the ‘results’ I expected to see were not realistic ones.
ART START is a non-profit that started in 1991 with a group of artists who wanted to make art with kids in shelters. We work with kids ages 5-18 who live in shelters, on the streets, in alternative incarceration programs, or surviving with parents in crisis. Through a variety of visual, performing and media arts workshops, we connect our students with the tools and resources the creative process, our artist volunteers, and New York City have to offer. By developing self-expression and raising self-esteem, our programs instill in our youth the confidence to think critically, ask important questions, and pursue meaningful opportunities in life. Eventually, ART START kids learn to trust themselves as their own safe place in very difficult circumstances.
This past year, I was hired as the Assistant Director and have been working closely with all aspects of this organization such as curriculum, fund-raising, and staff development. For the summer, I have been focusing on our Homeless Youth Outreach Programming, expanding our workshops and intertwining our music and visual arts curriculums. We have been in one of Manhattan’s largest public shelters since the beginning and my goal is to create a bigger presence there. Its important to me that ART START exists outside of that hour time frame because, after our workshops end and our volunteers leave, our students go back to roaming the halls with nothing to do. Our kids need to be constantly stimulated and challenged on a creative level so instilling the resources and confidence in them to do this on their own is a huge component. It’s not something that happens overnight, but occurs slowly over time with love and devotion.
This is the most important thing I've learned through this experience, that the influence of intentions, words, and actions don’t need to smack you in the face and scream their presence. It’s human nature to need to see a change, to record and compare numbers, to have tangible evidence that something is taking place, but that’s not what ART START is about. We know that every kid who comes to our workshops walks away with a new experience, a new perspective. Even if it just pertains to a small detail, it creates a vibration, it is forever in that child even if subconsciously. This is relevant even in those who never come into our rooms, but walk by and see us there week after week because they learn that no matter what, ART START’s doors will always be open to them and that’s huge.
One major project I have been spearheading is The Right Brain Campaign, a new fundraising project that celebrates creativity as an essential life skill. Our right brains are used in everyday situations- from figuring out how to stay cool in the summer heat, deciding on what to wear in the morning, creating a report for work, to putting food on the table. Creativity is not limited to the painter, chef or musician, but is an inherent universal ability that every human being shares. This campaign will celebrate those who recognize the importance of the right brain and support ART START’s programming that nurtures this in our youth who need it the most. Instead of poverty and statistics, the bright ideas of our kids will determine their futures.
To see some of Cailla's art, please visit www.caillaquinn.com
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Michael Brannagan
Michael attended Hillsdale College, graduating in 2007 with a degree in political economy, followed by two years in service with the Peace Corps. He began attending Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in the fall of 2010. After earning a master's degree in International Economics there, he would like to work at the State Department to support free trade and assist American businesses working overseas.
To read more about his service with the Peace Corps and to see stunning photos from his time in the beautiful country of Suriname, please visit: www.michaelbrannagan.blogspot.com
For the last two years, I lived on an island in the Amazon Rainforest. After graduating from Hillsdale College as a Phillips Scholar I entered the Peace Corps and was placed in the South American country of Suriname. For the first three months I lived with a host family in the interior, while learning the Aucan language and the Peace Corps approach to development. Since training I have lived in a remote but important village called Diitabiki.
There are no roads to Diitabiki. My transportation options include an hour-long flight in a Cessna or a three-day boat trip up the Marowijne River. Diitabiki is the capital of the Ndjuka people group, and the paramount chief, called the “gaanman” lives a short walk from my house. The gaanman is very old and very wise and appropriately described as the “grandfather” of his people. In general, conversations with the gaanman occur through an intermediary who relays what is said between the chief and his audience. On several occasions, however, I have had more personal conversations. Once I was invited to accompany the gaanman’s special emissary of village chiefs to discuss the role of traditional leadership with a government agency. The Ndjuka people take every opportunity to teach me more about their culture.
My main project in Suriname was a weekly radio show in the Aucan language on small business economics. To communicate complicated ideas I would tell culturally relevant stories about everyday life. People throughout the region listened to my program, and the experience helped me to understand the language and culture in new ways.
Most of the people are subsistence farmers, growing cassava and rice as staples, and clearing new ground from the forest every year to preserve the fertility of the soil. The river is used for travel by dugout canoes, bathing, and washing clothes and dishes. Unfortunately, the river has flooded in recent years, destroying some houses and many crops, and forcing the people to rethink their slash and burn agriculture.
Peace Corps enjoys good relationships with other organizations in Suriname, as few have personnel living in the interior. Because of major flooding during my first year, I conducted a food security assessment of the area for Red Cross, as many crops had been destroyed. Since then, I have made several trips with Red Cross and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture to distribute seeds and give agricultural training to help the people recover. I have several other projects in the works, including a sports club with mentors to impart life skills and a clean water project with training sponsored by UNICEF.
Within the Peace Corps I serve as the warden for my region, in charge of safety and evacuation plans in case of emergency. As travel deep into the interior is expensive for Peace Corps staff, I also have helped develop future Peace Corps sites and serve as the liaison between the country staff and the villages.
The Peace Corps has the three goals of helping people in other countries understand Americans, helping Americans understand other countries, and doing whatever we can to make life better in the places we serve. While development projects are important, much of what I do involves learning about this unique place and helping the people here understand a bit more about America. This exchange is a major task in itself.
In my spare time I explored the river in my dugout canoe, hiked in the jungle, fished for piranha, or help my friends clear brush and trees with machetes for their farms. The wildlife that I’ve seen (or eaten) in my area includes wild pigs, tapir, macaws, toucans, anaconda, piranha, spider monkeys, sloth, capybaras, far too many insects and spiders, and a large rodent called a konkony. While life in the rainforest is rather rustic, I did have plenty of adventures.
If you want to read more about my Peace Corps service, please visit www.michaelbrannagan.blogspot.com.
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Alanna Hughes
Alanna Hughes attended the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, graduating in 2008. She is currently completing her service with the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic. While leading a project involving cocoa farming and tourism, she interacted frequently with Catherine Wood, a Phillips Scholar and Fordham University graduate who stayed in the Dominican Republic after her two year stint with the Peace Corps and now manages the USAID grant which helps to fund Alanna’s program, among others.
Although I have finished over 40 books in my 23 months here in the Dominican Republic, one particular quote I read has managed to stay with me: “The way to know me is to know my work; I am my work.” While my accomplishments pale in comparison to those of its author (Mother Teresa), I do think that her words speak to my experience as a Peace Corps volunteer.
When I decided to join the Peace Corps back in August 2008, I was fresh out of college. A lot of my friends from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University opted to stay local, finding employment in DC and NYC, but I knew I had to go farther. To work in international development, I knew I couldn’t start out in the “developed” world. How would I ever understand the problems I would be trying to solve if I had never lived them myself? It was under this frame of mind that I signed up and shipped out as a Community Economic Development trainee.
Somehow, completion of 10 weeks of training qualified me to consult and train on a project involving tourism, cocoa farming, and chocolate production. A bit daunting, considering “chocoholic” and “globetrotter” were about as close as I had to relevant prior experience. Or so I thought. As it turns out, I have actually had more to offer the “Chocolate Tour” – a community-based tourism project that shows how the cocoa plant becomes chocolate and how Fair Trade actually does help alleviate poverty – than it sounds. Applying business, communication, and technology skills learned in school and former jobs, I have succeeded in training 14 local guides and over 30 women in topics ranging from public speaking and customer service to accounting and general business administration. Additionally, I have collaborated on new product development (e.g. a home-stay program), promotional materials, grant writing, and implementation of evaluation systems.
Aside from my primary project, I have had the opportunity to share with my community through secondary projects and cultural exchange. In terms of “work,” I have taught business skills to over 60 women, consulted and trained youth artisans and entrepreneurs, built a park in cooperation with my community and Ben & Jerry’s, offered English classes and summer camps, and organized community clean ups and educational one-off events for Dominican children. Additionally, for “fun”, I have both partaken in Dominican festivities and family time as well as invited them to share my own traditions with me. For example, for Easter, friends in my community showed me how to make “habichuela con dulce,” the seasonal sweet bean treat; I in turn shared our sweets with them through an Easter Egg Hunt for the little ones. (Talk about a sugar high!)
As my Close of Service date (October 29th) draws closer, I begin to feel anxious about transitioning back to the States. I plan to work for two more years and then attend grad school, but where is still the question. Despite the potential fear of the unknown, I feel like things will eventually work out. I am proud to have accomplished a lot through my projects; not only does this mean that my labors here will open doors to future opportunities, but also that the Dominicans I’ve befriended here will never forget the “Americana” who pushed them to excel and share in life’s twists and turns for two years.
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