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Rubenstein Arts Center at Duke University
The Ruby is a catalyst for creativity and a home for making art at Duke.
Workshop

Spoken Verb Presents: Writing About Racial Identity

Closed To The Public

Join Spoken Verb for a collaborative workshop on the process of writing about racial identity. This workshop is part of Asian Creatives Festival, a four-day celebration of art related to Asian identities and experiences organized by Duke ASA.

The Rubenstein Arts Center is open to the public for select events only to minimize health risks to our community. This workshop is restricted to Duke students, faculty, and staff at this time.

Date & Time
October 24, 2021 at 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
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Admission
Free; no RSVP required
Venue
Studio 131 at the Rubenstein Arts Center
2020 Campus Dr
Durham, North Carolina 27705
Description

Join Spoken Verb during the Asian Creatives Festival for a collaborative workshop on the process of writing about racial identity! Over the course of this workshop, we will work to deconstruct the idea of identities and race to devise a toolkit to help people of color codify their stories and experiences into writing.

Oftentimes, creative writing is stigmatized as being difficult, hard to do “correctly,” and hard to be good at, and this is a stigma particularly prevalent among minorities due to Eurocentric conceptions of what poetry, storytelling, and “good art” are supposed to look like. In truth, writing has long served as way for minority groups to pass on their stories and work through them personally by taking the concrete, the personal, and the emotional and turning them into tangible words of joy and pain.

We will start with explorations of what race and writing are in isolation, and the role that they do (or do not) play in our lives. We will then bring the two together to talk together about tips to healthily talk about one’s racial identity in creative writing. Finally, we will look at some examples of Asian creatives showcasing their stories and try our own hand at codifying our stories.

About the Asian Creatives Festival

How do you showcase your Asian identity through the arts? How is your identity expressed through creativity?

Duke Asian Students Association (ASA)’s Asian Creatives Festival is a four-day celebration of art related to Asian identities and experiences. Running October 21–24, ACF aims to create a space for Duke’s Asian communities to showcase how you express your identity, culture, and struggles through art, whether it is dance, singing, photography, design, or any form of creativity!

Through workshops and performances from your fellow classmates and student groups, ACF is an opportunity for our communities to learn and improve different artistic skills as well as to see the unique and vast talent other creatives have. These range from dance workshops to arts and crafts and more! Asian Creatives Fest is for anyone who has ever thought of the crossroads of their ethnic culture, identity, and arts and is open to all skill levels, no previous experience necessary.

The event will conclude with an art night market on Sunday evening on BC Plaza, aiming to bring together the Duke community one more time with vendors, booths, activities, and live performances by students and local artists from 6-8 pm.

We hope you can join us for ACF this year!

View the full ACF schedule

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