Greetings!!
I trust you are well given this latest moment we all find ourselves in and hope you are taking time to breathe…
I want to take a moment to share with you a vision inspired by a groundswell of Black women deciding to chart our own paths in social entrepreneurship as the pandemic, personal loss and racial and social inequality create an internal reckoning about how best to serve and lead during this time.
I am pleased to announce the founding of Makeda School for Art, Media and Humanities, an online platform I am building for classes, workshops, screenings, seminars and special events for diverse audiences to explore media making, art, humanities and storytelling in a supportive and inclusive virtual environment. Makeda School emphasizes intimate online class sizes offered at a sliding scale fee to ensure multiple access points for program participants. I am very excited to share what has been a vision kept close to my heart for quite some time.
I started a fundraiser on Friday, February 25th to help with start-up costs in the amount of $20,000.00 to support operations expenses, website development, curriculum and program design, and marketing that will run through Friday, March 25th. The campaign has already raised over $500 in just a few days as well as generated immense excitement about Makeda School across social media platforms.
With Makeda School, I hope to share a vision and belief that a study of art and the humanities is for everyone, particularly those who have often been excluded. My work as an educator and artist is for communities to experience the transformative power of learning and creating to nurture empathy and compassion for oneself and others.
Anyone donating $10 or more during this fundraising drive receives Founders Circle Rewards based on the level of donation received! Click on the link here to select your Founders Circle Rewards level and donate via PayPal's Generosity Network Makeda Arts fundraiser page.
I have already begun working on this large scale project and need your support to see it through leading up to the launch of the website on May 1, 2022.
I'll be in touch soon with updates and more exciting news regarding Makeda School!
Thank you for your support!!
Peace and blessings,
Kat Cheairs, Founder
Makeda School for Art, Media and Humanities
Bio
Katherine “Kat” Cheairs is a filmmaker, artist, educator, curator and community artist. Kat is a co-curator of
Metanoia: Transformation Through AIDS Archives and Activism, an archival exhibition focusing on the contributions of Black women, transwomen of color, and women of color HIV/AIDS activists from the early 1990s to the present. Kat is the producer and director of the documentary,
Ending Silence, Shame & Stigma: HIV/AIDS in the African American Family (2012)
and Visual AIDS: Day With(out) Art 2021 commissioned experimental video,
Voices at the Gate (2021). Additional areas of interest and research: visual culture; African American studies, gender studies; AIDS video activism; archival activism and preservation; media arts therapy and social practice in art and media education.
Kat has appeared and presented on panels at the Tribeca Film Institute, BAM, Pratt Institute, The New School, New York University, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Poster House, BAM, The Aperture Foundation, and UnionDocs. Kat holds a Master of Fine Arts in Film and Television Production from the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Tufts University. Kat was born in Buffalo, NY, grew up in Atlanta, GA and now lives in Harlem, NY. Kat currently serves on the Archive Committee for Visual AIDS.
