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An Urban Humanities Initiative
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    • Sumner StudioLab

    workshops | internships | courses | partners

    Sumner high school 1922
    Sumner High School, 1922 (Missouri History Museum)

    The oldest high school for African American students west of the Mississippi, Sumner High School remains a vital part of the Ville neighborhood today.

    The Sumner StudioLab is a collaboration between the Sumner Advisory Board, 4theVille, and Washington University in St. Louis’s Center for the Humanities and the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. Programming at the StudioLab builds upon the robust Sumner Recovery Plan initiatives. After being invited to collaborate, organizers first submitted a proposal that was reviewed and approved by the Sumner Recovery Board before launching the Sumner StudioLab in Summer 2022.

    The Sumner StudioLab brings together Sumner High students, WashU students, and Ville residents in a Community Hub to discuss and design Sumner’s historic legacies and promising futures.

    The StudioLab will run through the academic year 2025-2026 and include public workshops, student internships, listening sessions, and academic courses. The overall goal of the Sumner StudioLab is to deepen understandings of Sumner High School as a physical and cultural site through a shared focus on historic preservation and neighborhood community.

    To connect with the StudioLab, contact Matthew Bernstine and Laura Perry.

    STUDIOLAB PUBLIC WORKSHOPS:

    Guided by the StudioLab’s Community Advisory Committee, the Sumner StudioLab invites proposals for public workshops. Proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Proposed workshops will take place in the Ville and should broadly focus on activities that can build knowledge, provide skills training, practice community building, or engage with the arts. Other events and activities will also be considered. Anyone can submit a proposal via the online form. All proposals will be reviewed by the Community Advisory Committee, a group composed of Ville residents, partners and organizations working in or with the Ville and Greater Ville. Contact StudioLab co-organizers Matthew Bernstine and Laura Perry with any questions.

    A look at 2023 workshops:

    Aaron Williams + Urban Land Institute on community development
    Ville residents design an imagined neighborhood
    Dail Chambers + Forest Releaf on environmental and holistic health
    Transform 314 on local government
    CJ Mitchell on the art of protest
    High school students design and create buttons

    STUDIOLAB INTERNSHIPS:

    With funding from WashU’s Office of the Provost, the Sumner StudioLab is offering an internship program for Sumner High School students in AY 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. Interns develop their skills in community building, storytelling, graphic design, and event planning. Interns also contribute to community listening sessions and public workshops as well as connect with Sumner alums, local community leaders, and local institutions and museums. Interns receive a stipend to support their participation and are nominated for the program by Sumner High School staff.

    A glimpse into the internship program:

    Connecting with arts and culture
    Learning local histories
    Collaboratively designing
    Interns interview fashion entrepreneur AK Brown
    Internship coordinator Crystal Payne talks with interns
    Interns at work to create a Sumner seltzer brand

    STUDIOLAB WASHU COURSES:

    Michael Allen (Senior Lecturer, Sam Fox) teaches community-engaged courses for WashU students that meet weekly in the community hub space located at Sumner High School. The Fall 2022 course examined issues of “Historic Preservation, Community and Memory” with a particular emphasis on Sumner High School and the Ville neighborhood, and the Spring 2023 course, “The Unruly City,” continued this focus on local history and urban humanities. These courses are open to WashU students in Sam Fox and Arts & Sciences. Read more here about Michael Allen’s approach to community engagement.

    A glimpse into the StudioLab course activities in Fall 2022:

    WashU StudioLab Students @ Sumner High School
    WashU StudioLab Students @ Sumner High School
    WashU StudioLab Students @ Sumner High School
    WashU StudioLab Students with Sumner High School alums
    WashU StudioLab Students @ The Griot Museum of Black History
    WashU StudioLab Students with 4theVille’s Aaron Williams

    STUDIOLAB TEAM:

    Co-organizers:

    • Matthew Bernstine, Associate Director, Office of Socially Engaged Practice (Sam Fox School)
    • Laura Perry, Assistant Director for Research and Public Engagement (Center for the Humanities)

    Course:

    • Michael Allen, Senior Lecturer (Sam Fox School)
    • Abraham Diaz, Teaching Assistant (Sam Fox School), Spring 2023
    • Clark Randall, Teaching Assistant (Sociology PhD), Fall 2022

    Fellows:

    • Shameen Akhtar, 2022-2023Graduate Fellow in Community Engagement (Sam Fox School)
    • Crystal Payne, 2022-2024 Graduate Fellow in Community Engagement (Humanities)
    • Arielle Roybal, 2024 Undergraduate Fellow for Sumner Internship Program

    STUDIOLAB PARTNERS:

    • Dr. Sean Nichols, Sumner High School
    • Aaron Williams, 4theVille

    COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE:

    • Nicole Dotson, St. Louis Development Corporation
    • Angela Drake, Ville Collaborative, St. Louis Association of Community Organizations
    • Celeste Grayer, Sumner High School
    • Lance Knuckles, St. Louis Development Corporation
    • Vontriece McDowell, InvestSTL
    • CJ Mitchell, Contemporary Art Museum
    • Pastor Charles Norris, St. James AME
    • Aaron Williams, 4theVille

    workshops | internships | courses | partners

    To connect with the StudioLab, contact Matthew Bernstine and Laura Perry.