Clarksdale youth are finding their voice and being given the opportunity to change their lives and in turn change their community through Griot Arts, Inc., a non-profit arts education organization. “Griot is a West African title for the community storyteller,” smiles Emily Wisseman, Griot Young Program Director. “We are an after school arts program so part of what we want to teach our students is how to tell their stories through the various arts (music, dance, visual arts, theater). We talk a lot about being culture makers and how we can use the arts to create culture at Griot and in Clarksdale.” Emily shared with us about Griot Arts, Inc. and how they are making a difference in the Mississippi Delta.
{Tell me about Griot. It's an interesting name and I'm sure you get asked many times about the origin of the name.}
Griot is a West African title for the community storyteller. We are an after school arts program so part of what we want to teach our students is how to tell their stories through the various arts (music, dance, visual arts, theater). We talk a lot about being culture makers and how we can use the arts to create culture at Griot and in Clarksdale.
{What inspired Griot Arts, Inc.?}
The umbrella non-profit, Griot Arts Inc., was started in 2011. Griot Youth Program was the first program and it started in the fall of 2011 with 12 students. Cali Noland was the founder of the non-profit and currently the executive director of the non-profit. The non-profit was started to creatively address some of the problems in Clarksdale, MS--especially focusing on helping the youth.
Our current mission statement for the non-profit (this applies to all of the programs we have under the non-profit):
Griot Arts fosters creativity and life-long learning through the arts, empowering young people to create positive change in their lives and in their community.
The vision statement of Griot Arts, Inc.: As one the few creative youth development organizations serving the Mississippi Delta, Griot’s after-school arts programs offer a creative, compassionate, spiritual, and nurturing community for young people to develop their futures. Through strengthening its core arts programs, Griot is assisting its students to discover their life’s passion and to utilize the life- and job-skills they develop to realize their goals and to live life to the fullest.
Within Griot Arts, Inc., we have 3 programs. Two of the programs began in just the last year. Griot Youth Program is an after school arts program for 7th – 12th graders and is held Monday – Thursday during the school year with additional summer programming. There are 30 students who participate in this program each semester. Mint Griot is an after school arts program for 3rd - 6th grade students that is held on Tuesdays and Thursdays with 15 participating students each semester. Meraki Job Training Program is a job training program centered around a coffee roaster for youth 16 – 24 years old. There are 5 participants in each 4-month session.
{Tell us more about the 4c’s of Griot.}
We Are Griot (student’s moto). We are culture-makers using creativity, compassion, and intentional community to bring hope to the Mississippi Delta. We bring the change we seek through sharing our creativity, focused and disciplined work, and discovering our God-given calling.
Creativity: We believe all people are made in the image of God and given creativity and intellect in order to contribute to their community.
Compassion: We believe that real transformation only comes through true love for our neighbors and the radical generosity that comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Intentional community: Love and compassion lead us to live in purposeful relationship with our neighbors modeled after Christ’s example of living and sharing life with those most in need.
The last C is for Christ since the organization is run by Christian staff that sees Christ as central for why we work with youth in the area, the purpose for trying to create a better place for youth and help them discover their God given talents.
{What is the outcome for those that have participated programs? Are you seeing long-term positive outcomes/positive stories coming from those that have been a part of it?}
In our first 3 years of having graduating seniors (we started with 7th – 9th graders), all of our seniors have graduated from high school and are now attending college or working. The county graduation rate is only 76%. We see students that stick with us for several years improve their grades, attitudes, artistic skills, and have hope for their future. Many of the students that have graduated, but work or attend the local community college come back to volunteer. This shows the development of the servant's hearts we are hoping for. We have also seen a lot of our students grow in their faith and use this grounding to help face difficult situations and not lose hope.
Griot is here for the community-we want to help our students become servant leaders. Our programs are all very relational and we have a lot of volunteers and community supporters that help our students. We push for artistic excellence, but always choose to create performances with a positive message. All Griot Youth Program and Mint students participate in two end of the semester performances every school year that are open to the public.
To learn more about Griot Arts, Inc. click here.
{Tell me about Griot. It's an interesting name and I'm sure you get asked many times about the origin of the name.}
Griot is a West African title for the community storyteller. We are an after school arts program so part of what we want to teach our students is how to tell their stories through the various arts (music, dance, visual arts, theater). We talk a lot about being culture makers and how we can use the arts to create culture at Griot and in Clarksdale.
{What inspired Griot Arts, Inc.?}
The umbrella non-profit, Griot Arts Inc., was started in 2011. Griot Youth Program was the first program and it started in the fall of 2011 with 12 students. Cali Noland was the founder of the non-profit and currently the executive director of the non-profit. The non-profit was started to creatively address some of the problems in Clarksdale, MS--especially focusing on helping the youth.
Our current mission statement for the non-profit (this applies to all of the programs we have under the non-profit):
Griot Arts fosters creativity and life-long learning through the arts, empowering young people to create positive change in their lives and in their community.
The vision statement of Griot Arts, Inc.: As one the few creative youth development organizations serving the Mississippi Delta, Griot’s after-school arts programs offer a creative, compassionate, spiritual, and nurturing community for young people to develop their futures. Through strengthening its core arts programs, Griot is assisting its students to discover their life’s passion and to utilize the life- and job-skills they develop to realize their goals and to live life to the fullest.
Within Griot Arts, Inc., we have 3 programs. Two of the programs began in just the last year. Griot Youth Program is an after school arts program for 7th – 12th graders and is held Monday – Thursday during the school year with additional summer programming. There are 30 students who participate in this program each semester. Mint Griot is an after school arts program for 3rd - 6th grade students that is held on Tuesdays and Thursdays with 15 participating students each semester. Meraki Job Training Program is a job training program centered around a coffee roaster for youth 16 – 24 years old. There are 5 participants in each 4-month session.
{Tell us more about the 4c’s of Griot.}
We Are Griot (student’s moto). We are culture-makers using creativity, compassion, and intentional community to bring hope to the Mississippi Delta. We bring the change we seek through sharing our creativity, focused and disciplined work, and discovering our God-given calling.
Creativity: We believe all people are made in the image of God and given creativity and intellect in order to contribute to their community.
Compassion: We believe that real transformation only comes through true love for our neighbors and the radical generosity that comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Intentional community: Love and compassion lead us to live in purposeful relationship with our neighbors modeled after Christ’s example of living and sharing life with those most in need.
The last C is for Christ since the organization is run by Christian staff that sees Christ as central for why we work with youth in the area, the purpose for trying to create a better place for youth and help them discover their God given talents.
{What is the outcome for those that have participated programs? Are you seeing long-term positive outcomes/positive stories coming from those that have been a part of it?}
In our first 3 years of having graduating seniors (we started with 7th – 9th graders), all of our seniors have graduated from high school and are now attending college or working. The county graduation rate is only 76%. We see students that stick with us for several years improve their grades, attitudes, artistic skills, and have hope for their future. Many of the students that have graduated, but work or attend the local community college come back to volunteer. This shows the development of the servant's hearts we are hoping for. We have also seen a lot of our students grow in their faith and use this grounding to help face difficult situations and not lose hope.
Griot is here for the community-we want to help our students become servant leaders. Our programs are all very relational and we have a lot of volunteers and community supporters that help our students. We push for artistic excellence, but always choose to create performances with a positive message. All Griot Youth Program and Mint students participate in two end of the semester performances every school year that are open to the public.
To learn more about Griot Arts, Inc. click here.
{Blog post by Jill Dale and a special thank you to Griot Arts, Inc. for the pictures.}
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