Education

Shandaken: Governors Island opened in July 2021 with a collaborative educational initiative produced in partnership with Hunter College MFA, and continues in 2022 with the Shandaken Projects Printmaking and Social Justice Summer Intensive.

Current
In summer 2022, Shandaken Projects will welcome teenagers from New York City public schools for its Printmaking and Social Justice Summer Intensive. Up to 12 teens enrolled in NYC’s Summer Youth Employment Program will attend this course, taking place July 5 through August 12. Led by a dedicated artist-educator, the teens will research the print media strategies of American social justice movements from the 1950s through today; learn about the intersections of art and social justice, and receive instruction in advanced printmaking techniques including Risography and silkscreen. The course will culminate in a presentation of the students' own artistic social justice campaigns in an exhibition open to the public in mid-August.

Past
For six weeks in summer 2021, twelve graduate students from Hunter College and nine teenagers from NYC public schools created artworks together in the inaugural edition of Shandaken's Summer Printmaking Intensive. Centered on a new credit-bearing course at Hunter entitled “Governors Island Printmaking and Publishing Intensive, ARTCR 751,” this program was inspired by the ideas of Paulo Freire, who holds that education can be a tool for liberation, and that students and teachers can learn from one another.

During the program, participating graduate students were trained in mentoring principals, and then mentored local teens enrolled in NYC’s Summer Youth Employment Program in the creation of artworks and ephemera like prints, posters, and zines related to the context of Governors Island, and its mission of environmental and social justice. Teens were paid $15 per hour to participate in 140 hours of class time.

Objects created by the class were gathered into a free exhibition open to all Governors Island visitors, August 17 through 20.

Ongoing
In addition to the offered courses, any individual working on Governors Island is invited to attend a free training in the use of the Risograph. Trainings are offered monthly during the island's public season. Invitations to attend trainings are circulated by the Trust for Governors Island.

Thanks
Educational initiatives at Shandaken: Governors Island are generously supported by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and The LeRoy Neiman Foundation.