West Harlem Art Fund Partners With Artist And Exalt Youth To Capture The Voices Of People Of Color

This week, The West Harlem Art Fund launches COVID Diaries POC -a poignant audio series documenting the impact of the corona virus through interview and memoir. COVID Diaries POC collaboratively captures the reactions of People of Color living at the effect of this global pandemic.

Teen students from Exalt Youth will generate discussion questions that family members, neighbors and other participants will respond to using a recording feature on their phones.
Those interviews will be archived and woven into an outdoor botanical installation and soundscape performance piece designed by artists Nadia DeLane and Austin Arrington.

According to Savona Bailey McClain, Executive Director and Chief Curator for the West Harlem Art Fund, "It is vital that Black and Brown people share their thoughts and experiences firsthand. Too often others interpret the feelings of our communities for us without ever talking to us. COVID Diaries POC offers an opportunity for our communities to heal and process in real-time."

Posterity will include the voices of African, Latino and Caribbean Americans as historical actors and not as victims.

Exalt demonstrates the power of effective educational engagement as a viable alternative to criminal justice involvement for today's young people.

Students participating in the project are:
Mikayla Graham
Kayla Adeluwoyem
Fabian Ruddock
Niyah Mauge
Anaya Brewley
Nico Goings
Pawel Zyzanski