Students with the New Mexico Youth Arts Ambassadors program. Courtesy/NMPED
NMPED News:
SANTA FE — New Mexico Public Education Deartment (NMPED) has announce that student artwork from cuentistas, or storytellers, with the New Mexico Youth Arts Ambassadors (NMYaA) program is now on display in Mabry Hall in the Jerry Apodaca Education Building in Santa Fe. See artwork here.
Each cuentista’s piece consists of an originally taken photograph paired with an ekphrastic narrative. The artwork depicts the artists’ dreams, their visions for the world and their views from the window of adolescence.
“I truly believe New Mexico has the most creative and inspired students in the nation,” Public Education Secretary Arsenio Romero said. “This artwork will provide PED staff with something rich and beautiful to reflect upon and draw inspiration from daily. I thank the cuentistas and their mentors for this gift.”
The New Mexico Youth Arts Ambassadors program is an Albuquerque-based program offered by the New Mexico Academy of Rock and Blues (NMARB) for community youth ages 7 through 19.
“Art has the power to create confidence, resiliency and community, and is a conduit for language and cultural literacies,” NMARB/NMYaA co-founder Ana Romero Sanchez said. “This installation allowed our youth cuentistas to share their stories and their voices through creativity and ekphrastic imagery. It is wonderful that their words and images are in a space where decisions for their educational future are made. We hope that their visions will become inspiration for our leaders.”
Students completed their art projects during weekly after school workshops at the acclaimed FUSION Theater in Albuquerque from January through April. Workshop topics included photography, storytelling, creative writing, poetry and spoken word. Workshops were conducted primarily by NMYaA directors Ana and Keith Sanchez. Ambassadors also had the opportunity to learn from special guest mentors, including renowned photographer Daniel Montaño and Albuquerque Poet Laureate Emeritus Jessica Helen Lopez.
The NMYaA program is entering its eleventh year. It is free to community members with support from OneAlbuquerque and RFK Charter High School. NMYaA started primarily as a music education program for youth in the community. More recently, the program began a series of storytelling sessions. These sessions have utilized the forms of short film, photography and ekphrastic narrative.
The program is working with student storytellers to create narrative artwork using the corrido, a traditional Mexican song style narrative.