// \\ SOULCITY movement is a vision for social change through arts education, manifested by Jessica Cross as a 501 c 3 non-profit organization shortly after her graduation from Occidental College in 2010.

The momentum behind this movement is a collective group of people that share a passion for the arts and a desire to facilitate cross-cultural connections through universal languages of artistic expression. The SCM Artist Collective believes in the notion of creativity as a catalyst for positive change and is dedicated to sharing their experiences and craft for the benefit of fostering relationships between people and communities in need of a heightened sense of understanding, both of the self and the so-called 'other'; and what better way to accomplish this plight, then through the creative arts movement, lead by individuals who have surrendered to the notion of following dreams.

Art speaks freely and with a sense of candor that has the ability to move mountains, touch hearts and effect change. Young people around the world need that sense of freedom; to express themselves creatively and to also have their stories heard.

www.soulcitymovement.org

Join the movement. ​

The Artistic Eye Project

// \\ Today’s world is one of global diversity. Children’s neighborhoods are much larger than they might first appear and the importance of understanding each other across oceans, bridges, freeways and even streets has never been more necessary or possible. SOULCITY  movement, in partnership with Eye See Images, is utilizing the evolution of art media in the 21st century to provide young people with the opportunity to engage with notions of culture, community and identity by engaging in the art of photography through the Artistic Eye Project.

"What would I change about my neighborhood and what would I keep the same? Who am I? Let me show you." 

The essence of this project is young people and photography- utilizing artistic reflections in developing a sense of creative expression and self-understanding while simultaneously inducing cultural exchange between economic and culturally diverse students locally as well as internationally. Family, by blood or association, is a powerful topic that we believe most students can identify with and are sensitive to, regardless of cultural or economic affiliations. In this process they will be guided through their own creative minds in discovering the differences and similarities of experiences between themselves, their peers and unknown others.

Our first pilot program was in Cape Town, South Africa. We worked with two groups of high school students, ages varying from 15-19. Each group was carefully selected by a team of teachers and principals from local public schools within contrasting communities in and around Cape Town. Our second pilot was in the United States.  We worked with two groups of elementary school students, ages 10 and 11.  The two groups came from Creekside 21st Century Learning Lab in Portola Valley, California and Fair Oaks Elementary School in Redwood City, California.

In both of these very successful pilots, we worked with the groups simultaneously to conduct a project with a universally interconnected theme around Family and Neighborhood.  Armed with their own cameras, we took students through a variety of creative assignments where they learned the very basics of composition, lighting, subject, digital editing and how to best identify a successfully conceived and executed photograph. 

While we shared these basics, teaching the technicalities of photography is not our focus.  Our purpose is to provide a platform for students to acknowledge and develop their own inner creativity by telling their own story as seen through their artistic eye. This eye sees with unbounded sincerity, manifesting a sense of freedom with the ability to transcend any form of socially constructed stigma and acquired self-degradation.  As leaders we are focused on developing young people in learning how to compose compelling images, for we believe that creativity exists within the individual; it is as real as our hearts. Photography is simply one tool that is used to express this truth and it will be taught to inspire confidence and leave students proud of their accomplishments with the means to continue telling stories with the same veracity and candor to their subject as they have towards themselves.

Most importantly, this project is dedicated to creating a positive learning environment for young people to express themselves artistically while learning from each other. To provide young people with this opportunity is to inspire such passion in individuals that their stories can be told without compromise.  We are now raising the funding to bring the Artistic Eye workshop to communities around the world.  

We are currently fundraising for a summer workshop in San Francisco, California. Our next stops hope to be Portland, OR, USA Johannesburg, South Africa; Rio de Janero Brazil; Havanna, Cuba; Berlin, Germany; Mumbai, India and New York City, USA.

For more information and to view our student gallery please visit our project website @

www.artisticeyeproject.org

one.word project

Choose one.word. 

This word is a part of you. 

It resonates in you.                                            It resonates through you.

one.word

You want the whole world

to know;               to say;                  to see;                       to experience.

                                                                                                                                                                what is your word?

// \\ The one.word exhibition is part of a global arts education initiative conceptualized and executed by Jessica Cross and presented by SOULCITY  movement on behalf of The Artistic Eye Project (www.artisticeyeproject.org). 

Our mission is to unite personality with text in an effort to give voice to individuals and communities worldwide through the universal language of artistic expression. 

one.word offers Artistic Eye students and all subjects alike, a platform to further explore and communicate their own perspectives on community and identity by choosing one.word that they stand by- one.word that they feel is a part of who they are and needs to be conveyed through them, for the whole world to see.

The one.word project is a contribution to the collective global arts movement for positive change. We, the people are the soul of the city and this is our movement. www.soulcitymovement.org For more information on the Artistic Eye World Tour visit us at www.artisticeyeproject.org

For collaboration, sponsorship or donation inquires, please contact Jessica Cross: destinationmotherland@gmail.com 

To view full gallery click here: http://www.crossxcolours.com/one-word-gallery/

SOULCITY INSIDE OUT PROJECT 

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Oakland Heroes is a collaborative art campaign against the high rise of violent crime in the East Bay, California. SOUL CITY  movement is teaming up with Parisian artist JR to participate in his global art project 'inside out'. www.insideoutproject.net

Oakland Heroes will confront the bay area community with serious realities while still calling on the inspiration of heroic individuals past and present by re-creating iconic images of heroes using Oakland youth as subjects. These images will then be enlarged and wheat pasted on walls in public spaces in and around Oakland, California.

SOULCITY  movement will be working with a local Oakland charter school, facilitating group discussion on heroism and individual initiative in confronting the public with personal opinions and solutions to community issues through the arts movement. Students will then have the opportunity to join us in an effort to showcase voices of reason by participating in what Martin Luther King Jr. so eloquently articulated as 'creative altruism'. 

Our focus is heroism. Our focus is to encourage youth to identify with heroes; their ideas; their passions; their initiatives; their story; their method and their message. In doing so, we hope to unite a history of deep thought under the blanket of ‘heroism’ while creating a bridge from past to present and into the future. The images portray the relationship between the individual and their hero; a call to action as we ponder the question: what would they do?

​And then most importantly, what would I do?

For more information on SOULCITY  movement; projects and the Artist Collective visit

www.soulcitymovement.org

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