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Sanctuary: Creating Safe Spaces for and by Youth to Curb Discrimination and Exclusion

Creating Safe Spaces for and by Youth to Curb Discrimination and Exclusion

In a social environment where silencing of dissent, the weaponization of law, extra-judicial killings, and violence has increasingly become normalized, free-thinking, and critical voices are in danger. The habitat for youth engagement, independent thinking, and creative action is therefore deeply beleaguered and threatened, but the desire of the youth is not quelled. The spirit of truth-telling and truth-seeking thrives and needs a safe space to be nurtured and honored. It is in this light that the Youth Advocates Through Theater Arts (YATTA) seeks to create a youth-led safe zone, a SANCTUARY, where young people from various belief traditions may gather to speak freely and independently even with differing opinions, to engage in robust dialogue, and to express their agency and witness through creative forms of action focusing on the use of the arts. The arts shall be a language, a process, and a platform for youth voices to be recognized, respected, and celebrated. Three themes will serve as focal tracks for the project, where experiences, reflections, and resolutions related to discrimination and exclusion shall be addressed:  1) Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression; 2) Cultural Identity; and 3) Civic Engagement.

This project is supported by the United Evangelical Mission in partnership with the United Church of Christ in the Philippines.

 The habitat for youth engagement, independent thinking and creative action is therefore deeply beleaguered and threatened, but the desire of the youth is not quelled.

uem banana.jpg

Image Credit to: UEM

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