Birmingham Education Foundation
School districts in Birmingham, Alabama are among the most segregated in the country with almost half of the city’s children living at or below the poverty line.
In the lead up to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Birmingham Education Foundation organized a city-wide initiative to better understand the lived experience of parents, teachers, and students in the public school system.
1504 spent a year alongside community researchers, ultimately translating the quantitative data and mental health statistics into an immersive storytelling exhibit called “All In,” inside the city’s most historic high school.
With a focus reaching city leaders and organizers, the exhibit hosted participants on a self-guided journey throughout the school where they encountered mixed-media storytelling, and student performances. All In offered a glimpse into the complexities of community engagement, the lives behind the data, and ultimately, why students need our support more than ever.
SELECT WORKS
“All In” — The Experience
Upon arriving at the school, participants received locker numbers and combinations. Inside the lockers, a mesh backpack was waiting for them with a map of stories to be found throughout the school.
The Film — Trailer
Mr. Leonard’s classroom 207 became the location for participants to watch a short film directed by Jordan Mahy that tells the story of one school year from three perspectives.
GALLERY
The experience was designed for seven participants at a time, who begin here by opening their assigned lockers. Overhead lights in the school were kept off, but color-controlled LED tubes were synced and coordinated by floor to assist with wayfinding.
Inside the boy’s restroom, mental health policy recommendations are displayed. Looping audio plays from the last stall featuring a student poem on the impacts of bullying.
Using only their phones, Mrs. Lockhart’s class produced 1-minute films about their experiences of living through the past year. A series of cell phones were mounted to lockers to display the films, produced in partnership with The Flourish.
Students perform live in the theatre rehearsal room.
After the final bell, a group conversation is facilitated by the Birmingham Education Foundation’s Community Engagement Manager. After a personal empathy exercise, each group is tasked with creating a pledge for supporting students.
Freshmen students from Mr. Leonard’s class have turned in essays on what the “American Dream” means to them. Participants select a paper and, using the red pen, give it a grade while sitting in a teacher’s desk.
In conversation
Anytime that you're doing community work, you do it with people and not to them. You don't even do it for them. That comes with person-to-person contact and building those relationships of trust.
— T. Marie King, Local Activist and Advisor for All In