Highlander continues to use art and culture to empower marginalized communities across the South and Appalachia with the Zilphia Horton Cultural Organizing Project. The endeavor is named for Zilphia Horton, a musician, organizer, and wife of Highlander’s founder Myles Horton. It was Zilphia who showed Myles the power of culture to unite, inspire, and organize people for social movement, a legacy Highlander proudly carries on in her honor. With the Zilphia Horton Cultural Organizing Residencies in full swing, Highlander is now accepting applications for the next phase of the project: the 2013 Zilphia Horton Cultural Organizing Institute. Using the formula of the SNCC Leadership Academy, the Institute will bring 15 artists and cultural workers to Highlander to help them better understand organizing.
We are looking primarily for self-identified young adult artists (18 to 35), based in the U.S. South or from the Global South, who are interested in learning about the cultural organizing process and are ready to transform into cultural workers using their art in the pursuit of justice. We encourage community-based artists and members of arts collectives to apply as well.
Applicants must apply in teams of three, with a designated lead organizer and two cultural workers or artists who are interested in cultural organizing. By joining the institute in triads, we will ensure that learning is rooted in lived experience, and make sure that our newly-educated cultural organizers return home with a solid work plan to implement together.
The Institute will take place from Sunday, June 16th until Sunday, June 23rd, 2013 with 15 participants. The faculty will be comprised of community organizers, Zilphia Horton Cultural Organizers, Zilphia Horton Project Staff, and the Highlander Education Team, with units of study covering Highlander’s history and methodology, Cultural Work and Cultural Organizing, Organizing 101, Nonviolence, and more. In addition to gathering on the Highlander Hill, we will use technology for learning exchanges and to share tools and the cultural organizing methodology on a global scale.
Application Process Closed: Please contact marquez at test.highlandercenter.org for questions regarding the Zilphia Horton Cultural Organizing Institute.
