Is now the time to pull the plug on arts in schools?

That’s the question that The Right Brain Initiative is asking.

On the 18th of September, in front of nearly 200 advocates, NORTH helped unveil the new identity and mission platform for the Portland-based arts collaboration formerly known as Arts Partners.

Now branded as The Right Brain Initiative, the group is working diligently to integrate arts education experiences into the standard curriculum of every K-8 classroom across the region’s school districts.

After renaming the program, NORTH worked with local artists aged 5-50 to craft an evolving, participatory logo, short film and web presence that feels as genuine and unique as the children who stand to benefit from the program.

Many thanks to The Right Brain Initiative for letting NORTH be part of shaping our kid’s, and collective, future.

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Grow Film

For the last month, NORTH has been building a website to promote a film called “Call & Response - Concert to End Slavery.” It’s part concert, part documentary film that dissects the modern day slave trade.

The movie is intended to be a worldwide “call” to action. It hopes to raise awareness of the issue, while inspiring people to “respond,” and lend their voices to the cause. We wanted the website to help facilitate that response in an elegant, simple way.

Visitors to the site are presented with an unsettling video of a young slave girl talking about her life. When the video ends, the visitor is immediately prompted to respond.

After entering a response and selecting the appropriate mood, the visitor is presented with a sort of “living graph” of every submitted response. Each one can be read and sorted by date, mood or location.

The result is an ever-growing indictment of modern day slavery and, we think, a fitting testament to the collective power of individual voices.

www.callandresponsemovie.com