In 2020, protests for racial justice swept through the country and around the world. What are protestors’ rights? What responsibility do police have to support or protect these rights? How can young people protest safely?

In the winter of 2020-2021, CUP, Teaching Artist Hugo Rojas, and students from the Bronx School for Law, Government & Justice collaborated to investigate the limits, purpose, and power of protest. Students created GIFs, surveyed community members, interviewed key stakeholders working on the issue.

The team gathered what they learned and created In the Streets! – a documentary that teaches others how to protest safely for causes that matter most to them and their communities.

Students premiered their final project virtually through a public debut presentation, where they presented their film and shared their creative process. Students also screened their film at a special schoolwide presentation.

Watch the documenatry below!

See more photos of students in action here!

What People Are Saying

“My expectations were that I thought it was going to be a very strict program. My thinking changed after the program heavily, when I started to notice that we were all building a bond with each other and I started to feel more comfortable around everyone. I really enjoyed the fact that I was able to let my creative mind go wild and free and didn’t exactly have a limit to my project.” – Michael Rodriguez, Student

“This program was very fun and interactive and I got to work with my peers and create lasting connections with them. And our project was successful in educating others on our rights to protest in NYC and showing how protest is important.” – Angelina Bland, Student

“I was expecting this program to just talk about problems in the world and do assignments, but I didnt know it would be fun and interactive. I had a great time here!” – Destiny Rivera, Student

“The students did a phenomenal job! Many of these students were shy and reserved prior to participating [in the CUP program]. CUP shows teachers what can be done especially about the social justice themes and other ways of engaging [students] through artmaking and creativity.” – Kimberly Felder, Partnership Coordinator, Bronx LGJ

Funding Support

Major Support for this program was provided by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and Council Vanessa Gibson.

Special Thanks

Christine Gaspar, Gem Isaac, Kenny Nguyen, Parker Johnson, Shannon Johnson, Laura Pitter, Yasmine Safdie, Marcos Soler

Participants

  • CUP
  • Teaching Artist
  • Hugo Rojas
  • Project Lead
  • Fielding Hong
    • Bronx LGJ
    • Students
    • Angelina Bland
      Perla Diaz
      Caroline Eusebio
      Jelenny Lopez
      Edisa Marte
      Destiny Rivera
      Michael Rodriguez
    • Principal
    • Johanie Hernandez

    • Partnership Coordinator
    • Kimberly Felder