she_kept_her_bra_on_web.jpgMIAMI — URGENT, Inc. invites the community to the youth-led and acted play, She Kept Her Bra On Too! Girls Giving Voice to Their Power and Taking Action, on Saturday, May 12, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Playground Theatre, 9806 N.E. Second Avenue, Miami Shores.

The play brings to the forefront issues that threaten girls’ overall health and well-being, while demonstrating the power of individual and collective action that can strengthen girls’ resolve to make positive life choices. 

The production includes special performances by Rebecca “Butterfly” Vaughns, Via Renay and Alexis Caputo presenting excerpts from Afro Diaries, a project of Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator and Project Witness. 

Organizers say the unique contribution of the youth production is that it helps girls find their voice to speak out against the threats to their well-being; promotes solutions that support their ability to make positive life choices, and engages and educates their peers, families and the community at large.


EXHIBITION


The youth photo voice project See It Our Way: Community Impacts of Teen Dating Violence is an exhibit aimed to promote critical dialogue using photographs, group discussion and reflection to explore and act collectively on issues around community health and well-being. This exhibit officially launched Urgent Inc's youth-driven teen advocacy campaign, She Kept the Bra On! The Campaign for Girls Well Being.

The first strategic initiative of this campaign is to build awareness, educate their peers and advocate for policy changes that will help prevent teen dating violence. 

The photo voice exhibition and youth art curated by the Museum of Contemporary Art: Women on the Rise program will be on display, Saturday, May 12, 10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. in the Sandbox (located next door to the Playground Theatre). 

Modline Philistin, a member of the Rites of Passage Program, wrote in a recent photovoice analysis: “This photo project is important because girls need to be educated. They need to know what the signs of domestic violence mean and what to do with them. Girls have all these signs but they continue to let it (domestic violence) happen.”


PASSAGE


Rites of Passage teen researcher, Naomie Delva said in an afterschool meeting that, “Teen dating violence is a problem that officials can no longer ignore because it is really getting out of hand and becoming costly."

Above all, said Vice President Saliha Nelson, “This is a health, safety and security issue not only for girls, but the community as a whole.”

The program meets regularly at Booker T. Washington Senior High School and Miami Edison Edu-plex Senior High School. The program is supported by the Women's Fund of Miami-Dade County and by The Children's Trust, Miami-Dade County and the City of Miami.


For more information contact Shedia Nelson at shedia@urgentinc.org


IF YOU GO

WHAT: She Kept Her Bra On Too! youth play and youth photovoice exhibit

WHEN: Saturday, May 12, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

WHERE: Playground Theatre, 9806 N.E. Second Avenue, Miami Shores.

COST: Free and open to the public

CONTACT: shedia@urgentinc.org

Photo: Courtesy of MIKELLE MOORE

SEE IT OUR WAY: Combating teen dating violence is a youth photovoice exhibit and the youth-led production She Kept Her Bra On, Too: Girls Giving Voice to their Power and Taking Action.