My artistic roots were well planted the moment my first ever art teacher in the 10th grade said that I had a natural talent and pushed me to attend the the FinCo summer art workshop. For me, it was a life changing experience that started me on my artistic journey.

Many moons later, I became a parent of an "At-Risk" learner and I was eager

 to find anyway I could to activate his inner genius. As life presented various opportunities to learn and grow, I discovered a new pedagogy by Harvard professor Dr. Doris Sommer who coined the term, Pre-Texts which instructs learners and teachers to "use art as the raw material for art-making". Intrigued, I eventually became the Bahamas representative or "weaver" for a group of teachers and professionals to gain certification in the Pre-Texts program. With this knowledge, I constructed an educational program in order to better supervise and lead a team of Pre-Texts graduates to run an afterschool art & reading program sponsored by the InterAmerican Bank (IDB) in 2016. It was also during this time that I used this experience to write my Master's Degree capstone paper;   

                    “Can a Pre-Texts Arts methodology effectively contribute to alleviating

                         educational indicators associated with at-risk youth in The Bahamas?"

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The formation of CHILDREN'S VOICES and each subsequent summer program has been in an effort to answer this question.