Gather, Connect and Dream: Call for 2020 Rida Educators

People in Education is moving the Rida Institute online for 2020. We are excited to announce that applications are now open. Apply by August 3. 

“Somehow in all this we will hold school. In classrooms, physical and digital, we will tend to, care for and learn with our children.”

— Nate Mullen, Rida Lead Facilitator

As educators, we are experiencing this moment of uncertainty, grief, hope and opportunity in a unique way as we look towards next school year. None of us know how to do this and that is okay. We are all learners now. We can no longer hide behind our experience and pretend that we know what is going to happen. In an ironic way, we are peers with our young people. More facilitators than experts. Guides walking alongside our youth, as we collectively resist white supremacy and systemic racism while navigating the painful realities of a pandemic.

This uncertainty extends to our work at PIE; we also don’t know how to do this, but we commit to practicing courage, connection and curiosity.

Our nine years of experience working with educators in Detroit and around the country will help us reimagine our practices and develop new tools to meet this moment, while holding true to our purpose and core elements.

“That is where the hope lives for me, right now, in that we have a chance to be honest and model courage with our young people.”- Nate Mullen

rida 2020

The Rida Institute is a transformative space for educators to create more humane lives and learning spaces. We continue to honor the key components of this space as we move online and embrace with our whole selves this moment that is ripe for transformation.

“What I gained and learned from Rida has really helped me cope and manage and shift my perspective during this crisis.”

— Kelly Seacrest, Rida 2020 Alumna

We hope to gather a group of dynamic educators who want to dream with us. Who want to facilitate learning and practice courage alongside other educators and their students. If you are looking for space to unpack issues of critical pedagogy and reconnect with the heart and human elements of learning, you’ve come to the right place.

We invite you to come along for this journey of dreaming anew.

Black Lives Matter

Our hearts break every time we see Black lives violently and continuously taken due to anti-Black racism that plagues our society and is perpetuated by police brutality. 

As an organization committed to humanizing schooling, understanding and dismantling systemic racism and white supremacy is central to our mission. 

As an organization rooted in Detroit, we came to humanizing schooling as a response to the systems that dehumanize the black and brown children in this city. We are here for the long term work of creating a world where every human life is valued. 

We stand in solidarity with and support efforts to bring about transformational change. We honor and say of the names of those who have been recently lost:

George Floyd Breonna Taylor Ahmaud Arbery Tony McDade

We are grateful for the support, direction and resources from community during this time, and we share them in hopes that you also find them helpful: 

Ask Youth. Period.

PIE's 2020 Artist-in-Residence program (AIR) kicked off this past January, but was cut short as schools across the country closed due to COVID-19. Prior to the crisis, we partnered with educators at Burton International Middle School, University Prep Art and Design and Alternatives for Girls. Teaching artist Cyrah Dardas worked with middle school youth to explore the theme of learning environments. Although AIR programming has paused, we continue to glean insight from Cyrah and her work with young people. As such, we’re excited to share an interview we conducted with her just before the crisis.

Click the audio player below to hear Cyrah’s story of what happens when you “ask the questions that kids actually want to answer.”

Read a transcript of the interview here.

cyrah’s major keys

COVID-19 and its implications for schooling and learning push us to re-examine the purpose of education now more than ever. Simultaneously, families, students and educators are adjusting in real time to distance learning.  With that in mind, we have contextualized the take-a-ways from our conversation with Cyrah that are particularly poignant in this moment.

Click the image to check them out >>

More about cyrah

When Cyrah isn’t working with PIE, she’s creating visual art, curating art spaces and community organizing. She says her current focus is on connecting people physically and metaphysically.

“I'm interested in a collective consciousness,” she says. “And so I feel like because I have experienced something and I feel something, you have experienced it [...] so it's like being able to breathe and bridge connections between people.”

Cyrah’s personal art practice and her work with young people often connect.  Recently, she created a zine, “Practices in Adult Allyship,” inspired by the global youth leaders addressing climate change. 

“All of these social justice movements are essentially led by young people. And so for us to get out of our own way so that these young people can save [us], we need to start more intentionally practicing adult allyship.”

— Cyrah Dardas, PIE Teaching Artist

Open “Practices in Adult Allyship” here.