Young Public Scholars Courses

Instructor: Julien Burns

Course Offered: July 15 - 19

Drawing from campaign planning methods developed by Marshall Ganz, the Midwest Academy, Spitfire Strategies and other social movement leaders, this course will take students through a version of the process used by local advocacy and communications consulting co-op Red Cypress Consulting to help advocates map out a path to effecting change. Using a learning by doing approach, Red Cypress Founder and narrative change expert Julien Burns will work with students to break down what makes an advocacy goal winnable, map out decision makers and influence points, and identify relevant advocacy tactics. He will then coach them into threading these pieces together into a campaign plan and a story about their campaign that they can tell to get others interested in getting involved. The course will end with students pitching their plans to their peers and receiving feedback they can use to run winning campaigns after the course ends if they choose.

Students who complete the course will have a practical grounding in advocating for social change that will serve them well in coursework related to social movements and social change in fields ranging from Political Science to Sociology to Communications Studies.

In this course, you will be able to:

• Learn how prominent advocacy organizations effect social change.
• Practice analyzing an advocacy goal in order to develop a plan to achieve it.
• Practice mapping out decision-makers and influence points.
• Gain familiarity with a range of effective advocacy tactics.
• Practice developing a campaign plan and pitching it to get others involved.

Instructor: James May

Course Offered: June 17 - 21

What comes to mind when you think "nature sounds?" Perhaps bird calls, or rain, or wind during a storm. For musicians, film-makers, podcasters, and more, the sounds of everyday life play a key part in their creative work. This course introduces students to the ways that creators use environmental sound to make art. Students will learn technical skills like recording techniques and audio editing to make original pieces of sonic art, learning about how to hear detail in the sounds around them and listening to exciting artists working today. Topics covered will include field recording, listening exercises, audio editing and creative audio processing, and strategies for producing original art using sound—like music, soundtracks, podcasts, and more.

Instructor: Daniella Zalcman

Course Offered: July 15 - 19

Spend the week diving into the history, mechanics, and ethics of visual journalism with hands-on time dedicated to making a cohesive, sequenced photo story with an award-winning National Geographic photographer. Emphasis will be placed on developing story, strengthening technical ability, and learning how to develop specialized skills like intimate portraiture and compelling narrative. No specialized equipment required — smartphone cameras welcome and encouraged.

Instructor: Abdul Aziz

Course Offered: July 22 - 26

This class will examine the intersection of social justice, housing, documentary filmmaking, print media and photojournalism. Students will study current housing issues in New Orleans, particularly in marginalized communities, and how photographers can use their craft to bring attention to these struggles and advocate for fair and adequate housing. The class will explore the role of social justice organizations and journalists in advocating for marginalized communities and their right to safe and affordable housing and how documenting these organizations can amplify their cause and raise awareness of the issue.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Understand the historical and contemporary context of social justice and housing issues in New Orleans.
• Analyze and critique photojournalism produced on these issues.
• Understand how to use photography to promote social justice.
• Gain experience in the ethical and technical aspects of producing photojournalism that addresses social justice and housing issues.

Instructor: Betsy Weiss

Course Offered: July 8 - 12 | July 22 - 26

Louisiana leads the world historically in incarceration rates and now in criminal justice reform. Learn about the broad social impacts of a justice system rooted in inequalities and the struggles to reverse them. Students meet with formerly incarcerated activists while studying the structures for incarceration through film, video, and reportage and learn interview techniques in producing a profile for ViaNolaVie.

This class examines punishment and redemption in the prison industrial complex. We will examine criminal justice issues through a media lens. Television, film, newspaper, and electronic/internet media intersect with crime and the criminal justice system in a number of important ways. We will consider how the media are used to explore issues (i.e., political ideology, corrections policy, causes of crime) that are central to the study of crime, as well as ways that media may be used to inform and educate the public, create or dispel fear and create or correct misperceptions about criminality and criminal justice. Students will experience firsthand the ways in which media can contribute to social change by writing articles (supplemented by still or moving images) to be published on ViaNolaVie.org.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Demonstrate compassion, integrity, and respect for others, in the classroom and when working with community partners.
• Critically evaluate mass media offerings in terms of how crime and the criminal justice system are depicted.
• Acquire the skills to critically interpret media and recognize the construction of crime and justice (e.g., cops, courts, prisons).
• Understand how images of crime and justice vary across different forms of media.
• Understand the role of political ideology in criminology and criminal justice and recognize ideological viewpoints in the media.

Instructor: Amy Kirk-Duvoisin

Course Offered: June 10 - 14

Everyone seems to be expressing themselves online, telling their story, and trying to explain their point of view. But rarely is someone’s authentic voice able to come through. In this course, students will develop their unique voices and tell their stories about current socio-political issues. Students will learn how various art forms have been used to shape social change; theories of social change; and marketing, advertising and public relations tactics that can be utilized for promoting certain social issues to become leaders for their community. How will you develop your authentic voice to create messages that are meaningful and surprising, creative, and simply true—your truth?

What is it that you really want to say about current socio-political topics, but are struggling to say in a new, authentic way? What have you experienced that you would like to share so that people can understand why they should care about this for a larger public purpose?

The course will include writing exercises, theater exercises, public speaking, graphic design, and marketing, communications, advertising and public relations exercises and examples. Students will develop their own social media campaign to present by the last day of the course, based on their own personal experience, research, and new techniques for presenting their ideas.

In this course, students will gain:

• Marketing expertise, including a template for developing a marketing plan.
• Knowledge of the history of political art.
• New techniques for using personal histories to shape a social media campaign.
• Creative writing and theater techniques to use to develop future ideas.