This semester, students from Dr. Jessica Sierk’s Urban and Rural Education class are teaming up with the Canton Middle-High School on an arts partnership entitled “What’s Pressuring You?: Growing Up in the Modern World.” The showcase will feature student work that exhibits common pressures felt by youth today, including, but not limited to, social media, body image, politics, and academics.

“Too often, education is not very responsive to the realities of students’ lives. I think what has made this project so impactful is that the task of creating artwork around the topic of pressure was inherently personal for students,” said Associate Professor of Education Jessica Sierk.

“I’m hopeful that teachers, administrators, school board members, parents, and community members who attend the exhibit will get an honest look at what pressures youth are dealing with and will be able to respond to the art with action that addresses some of the concerns youth have in our community. I hope this project starts a conversation that youth can help lead and influence for years to come,” she added.

Inspired in part by the “Under Pressure” International Graffiti Convention, a street arts festival that takes place annually in Montreal, this project also encouraged cultural exchange between participating students and Canadian artists Melissa Proietti and Sterling Downey, who have been involved in similar projects.

Proietti is currently a PhD candidate at McGill University in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education in Montreal. For the past 11 years, she has been running different urban arts-based programs in a variety of settings to work with at-risk youth.

These collaborative art projects, which have taken place in community centers, festivals, and more traditional settings at the elementary and high school levels, have inspired her current doctoral work. It focuses on the development of an art gallery within a high school, which is transforming into an urban arts school.

Downey has a longstanding career rooted in both community-based and cultural organizations that have had local, provincial, and national impact. Downey is widely known as the co-founder of the “Under Pressure” Festival, which recently celebrated its 22nd anniversary, making it North America’s longest-running urban arts festival. “Under Pressure” is an entirely volunteer-run event, which has a mandate to support local urban artists and has given many new up-and-comers a platform from which to build their careers.

Proietti and Downey were invited to speak at St. Lawrence University in 2015 to host a talk on their work in the community and through the arts.

The event will run from Tuesday, April 17 to Tuesday, May 1 at TAUNY (53 Main St, Canton, NY), with an opening reception from 3:00-6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17.