To an audience of over 200 people on December 10th, the eleven Ashé Unbound students in New Orleans, Louisiana presented their experiences, visions, and ideas for what it means to be “Unbound.”
With songs, poems, dance, and spoken-word, these students-as-community-arts-practitioners premiered their first-semester experience during Ashé Cultural Arts Center’s 12th annual Holiday on the Boulevard.
The Ashé Unbound piece had three parts: 1) students using poems, short stories, and other media to highlight their personal struggles with higher education in the past; 2) a dance and musical invocation of Congo Square and various cultural practices in New Orleans; and 3) students stepping forward with personal reflections of what it means to be unbound in higher education.
Ashé Unbound is a partnership between College Unbound, Roger Williams University, and Ashé Cultural Arts Center. Current students range in age between 23 and 66, and all are affiliated with Ashé Cultural Arts Center, which becomes the focus of their College Unbound learning.
The students will perform this piece again during American Association of Colleges and Universities’ “General Education and Assessment” meeting in New Orleans, February 23-25.
