The project team ran a symposium (for practising/trainee teachers and project participants) at USP Long Island that outlined findings by project social scientists (Alex Plows, Polly Atatoa-Carr and Shari Sabeti) on cultural identity, wellbeing, and the value of arts education. Ejit and Coop schoolchildren also attended the symposium, reading poetry they composed during the April/May workshops, and participating in a comics-making workshop run by Hawai‘ian project artist Solomon Enos. Solomon, Michelle and Shari ran a workshop on visual literacy and using comics/graphic novels for teaching with schoolteachers attending the symposium. Participants were shown short films by Sara Penrhyn Jones (project film-maker) featuring interviews with Kathy and Solomon.
Michelle Keown, Aileen Sefeti (project Research Assistant) and Dustin Langdrik (project collaborator) travelled to Ebeye, RMI’s other substantial urban centre, to run creative writing workshops and conduct focus-group interviews with students at Ebeye Public Elementary School.
Michelle Keown, Shari Sabeti and Polly Atatoa-Carr led a workshop at the University of Hawai‘i, Hilo (on the Big Island of Hawai’i, where another substantial Marshallese diasporic community is located) outlining project findings and creative outputs. Participants were shown slideshows of photographs produced by Ejit and Co-op schoolchildren produced during the April/May 2017 workshops.