Our Story
In March, several students from exalt (a development program for court-involved youth) and a New School student joined a bus of young people to meet with senators to advocate for the issue of Raise the Age. After talking with many senators and listening to the stories of graduates of exalt, as a team we recognized that these stories should be heard on a larger level and are fundamentally important to the passing of this law. This past summer, Eugene Lang partnered with exalt to develop a performance, 16 Bars-Youth (Off)Ending Justice. The style of this piece is documentary theater, so the content is based off of interviews performed by the students with each other as well as facilitated by the teachers. The culminating performance will take place at a conference hosted by Eugene Lang professors, Arts Advocacy: Youth in the System also on the topic of Raise the Age. During the three day event, students will have the opportunity to meet CBOs working on this issue and plan and propose a related event. Friday, September 9th there will be a 'Thinking Out Loud' event featuring successful artists who work with youth of color in New York City, including Liza Jessie Peterson, creator of Peculiar Patriot, and Jamal Joseph, a teacher at Columbia University, former Black Panther and creator of Chapter and Verse.
Raise the Age
New York and North Carolina are the only states that automatically try 16-17 year olds as adults. Latest scientific research shows that the frontal cortex (decision making part) of the brain is not fully developed until age 25. Violent offenders aged 13-15 are sometimes also prosecuted in adult court and receive adult level sentences. Youth housed in adult facilities are 36 times more likely to commit suicide than in youth facilities. 80% of young people released from adult facilities end up back in the prison system. Over 70% of the children and youth arrested are Black or Latino. Of those sentenced to incarceration, 80% are Black and Latino. For more information visit http://raisetheageny.com.
Our Team
Brian Lewis--Co-Facilitator/Director
Cecilia Rubino--Co-Facilitator/Director
Louisa Strothman--Project Manager/Assistant Director
Naomi Khanukayev--Media Designer/Assistant Director
Aasim Rasheed--Assistant Media Designer
Morgan Stevenson--Assistant Director
Josefina Perez--Assistant Director/Stage Manager
What We Need
This money will go to making sure this project makes the impact it needs to to get this law changed. And with your donation, you have the satisfaction of helping out a worthy cause, and if you so choose one of our lovely perks.
Specifically this money will go to:
payment for editor so a film of the process of the piece can be shown and official trailer
funds to document and evaluate the performance so that it can be recreated with other groups of young people facing the same or similar issues.
Honorariums for guest speakers at the Arts Advocacy conference who are all artists and scholars who speak about the issues that the young people in the performance face.
Cameras to record performance
The Impact
The past two years Governor Cuomo has proposed a bill to raise the age of criminal responsibility which has been overturned both times. The house is very divided on this issue and the issue has not gotten the attention it deserves. This means there is still work to put pressure on our representatives for the next legislative session. When talking with legislators we learned that many of them are not only unaware of the facts of brain development in young people, but also that they had never heard stories of the kids who are directly impacted by these laws.
Other Ways You Can Help
- Spread the word about Raise the Age, and this campaign! Register for and attend the symposium: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/arts-advocacy-youth-in-the-system-tickets-27007869264 as well as assist with outreach by posting to social media
- Get educated on the laws of your state and elected officials, including prosecutors, judges, legislators and many other people who have a hand in making and carrying out laws and petition them to get Raise the Age and other worthy causes passed
- Spread the word about Raise the Age, and this campaign!
- Get educated on the laws of your state and elected officials, including prosecutors, judges, legislators and many other people who have a hand in making and carrying out laws and petition them to get Raise the Age and other worthy causes passed