Grant Awarded: November 2006

Type of Grant: We the People Grant

Sponsor: Plymouth Community Arts Council (PCAC)

Contact: Paula Gangopadhyay, pgangopa@plymoutharts.com

Website: www.plymoutharts.com/

Award: $15,000

This project will involve 30 middle and high school youth from Plymouth-Canton School Districts in an after-school program. Participants will create a unique exhibition that will document the changing meaning of work in people's lives, with Plymouth as a case study in Michigan's economy. Participants will be engaged in historical research and will conduct intergenerational oral history interviews of past and present workers from Plymouth's manufacturing companies. These companies have witnessed a huge change with the evolution of the global economy. These dynamic oral histories will be transcribed as people's stories in their own voices and will be incorporated into the exhibition label texts. Youth will be using a variety of artistic media as tools to prsent their interpretation of the topic. The project will incorporate a humanities approach by encouraging the participants to adopt interdisciplinary methods from the field of Language Arts/English/Writing, Research, History, Economics, and Career Pathways. The exhibition will be open to the public in the fall of 2007, and will be displayed each March every year thereafter during the PCAC's annual Career Exploration Event.

Over the preceding summer, youth will have the option of participating in a Drama Camp where the council's theatre staff will help them develop an original play/act based on their research. A short play/act, Past Present and Future of Michigan's workforce, through the eyes of Plymouth residents, will be offered as an interpretive program at the exhibit opening in Fall of 2007.

This project is a partnership of the Plymouth Community Arts Council, Eastern Michigan University History Department, Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, the City of Plymouth and Plymouth Township, the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce, the Plymouth Public Library and local business representatives.