Macon Reed collaborated with Dr. Livia Alexander, Professor of Art and Design at Montclair State University to develop a semester-long curriculum based around A Pressing Conference. Students were invited to write about the social and political issues they were most concerned about and then present speeches to the class about them for feedback. Afterwards, students divided themselves into four thematic groups: climate change, race/immigration, gender, and mental health. Each group did outreach to meet community members who worked on the issues they were concerned about and invite them to participate as speakers in a formal presentation of A Pressing Conference at Montclair Art Museum. Columbia University doctoral student, Eunji Lee, followed the collaboration from its conception for her research on the impacts of socially engaged art on project participants in "Art as Pedagogical Experience: A Multiple Case Study of Three Socially Engaged Art Projects.”
Dr. Livia Alexander speaking about collaborating with Montclair State Unviersity students and Macon Reed in her course.
Photo Credits: Andrew Atkinson