BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — When 15-year-old Carlos Cardena walks to school each morning, he says he sees two Brooklyns: the beautiful and the ugly.
The ninth-grader at Brooklyn Community Arts and Media High School is documenting the sights of his daily commute as part of a new arts program aimed at helping young men examine their communities, and the roles they play within them.
“On Waverly, there’s a building that looks really nice and expensive, and then just across is an abandoned building,” Cardena said.
“There’s always the beauty and the ugly, that’s Brooklyn. This opens my eyes to different things that I’ve never seen before,” he said, adding that through his walks, he noticed nearby universities for the first time.
Cardena is one of more than a dozen teens participating the Willoughby Avenue school’s Project AIYM, which stands for Artistic, Intelligent Young Men.
Faculty at BCAM started the after-school program in late October as a way to engage students academically and motivate them to pursue their talents, according to teacher Brent Lawrence.
“The idea is looking at how these young men are shaped by their community, how they influence their community and at what’s happening to other members,” Lawrence said.
“A lot of the times when we look at a community, we typically look at the men and how much they impact it. This project just makes sense to do, especially because of what’s happening in Ferguson, what’s happening in Minneapolis, what’s happening in Baltimore, Chicago.”
Through January, a team of teachers will help students explore the arts through film, photography and music based on discussions they’ve had about issues in their daily lives and neighborhoods.
Conversations between teens and facilitators touched on topics of identity, cat-calling and code-switching — the practice of changing one’s actions or language to fit in within a specific environment.
In addition to students like Cardena who are developing photography skills, or others tackling identity through songs and raps, the teens are working on a movie addressing bullying and code-switching.
The group helped write the script, will star in the short, and are working to film and edit the story.
“I’m here to actually grow on video editing. I think it’s pretty creative how we’re making a film, to me it’s amazing.” said tenth-grader Muhammad Fuller.
“I’ve actually been more occupied than I’ve ever been in my life. This is just a way for me to have something to do and to learn something new.”
Through twice-a-week meetings and occasional weekend get-togethers, the program allows students to bond and develop friendships with teens who they otherwise wouldn’t get a chance to connect with, teachers and participants said.
Students added that the sessions allow them to explore new talents and open possibilities to career paths.
"Not only are we acquiring new skills, we’re also learning how to become better young men while in the process,” said Dorwayne Esbrand, a high-school senior in Project AIYM’s music team.
“I’m actually learning how to become a better teammate; I know I can’t let these guys down.”
The program, which BCAM launched for the first time in partnership with the Walentas Family Foundation, will culminate in a neighborhood arts showcase.
