Art Education & Display in EPA

  Join us Friday to hear from Tefferi Mogus Brook, the Executive Director of the Mural Music & Arts Project (MMAP). The MMAP educates, empowers, and inspires youth through the arts. Since 2001, MMAP has created a public art legacy while serving 12,264 youth, who have installed 206 murals, produced 162 original songs, and reached over 33,300 individuals through exhibits and performances. MMAP is made up of 4 specific programs.

• The Teen Mural Program (TMP) is a youth development program and summer employment opportunity that teaches high school students to research, design, and install large public art murals. By exposing students to painting and learning through the arts, TMP achieves significant developmental youth outcomes, reduces youth participation in unsafe activities, and combats the teen dropout rate. TMPʼs curriculum focuses on developing artistic skills and increasing knowledge of local history.
• History Through Hip Hop promotes social change by employing youth to create, perform and exhibit art and to activate and mobilize community. Through a project-based, thematic curriculum that meets California Visual and Performing Arts Standards, youth investigate historic barriers to access, learn contemporary issues in society, music and media, and design strategies to bring equity through their art.
• MMAP’s Public Art Consulting gives artistic teens an opportunity to gain professional art experience and to create their own portfolios and resumes, creates revenue that helps sustain MMAP through the fulfillment of income-generating art commissions, and retains skilled, professional artists to ensure high quality artwork while developing teens’ skills in art and business.
• MMAP seeks to provide the Ravenswood City School District staff with the necessary training to provide students with critical Visual and Performing Arts and Science Technology Engineering Art and Math (STEAM) skills for them to thrive. MMAP serves as a resource to the Dstrict as it identifies, prioritizes, and installs state-of-the-art. As part the partnership with RCSD, MMAP develops and implements standards-based, culturally relevant, interdisciplinary VAPA curriculum along with monthly professional development workshops for art teachers, addressing Common Core State Standards, Art Disciplines, and English Language Development. Because 93% of students in the district are primarily Spanish speaking, and 2,164 of the students in Grades K-8 are English Learners, MMAP seeks to use art and art classes to support literacy.

  Teff Brook is a lyricist, producer, and educator working in underserved communities since his teenage years. While at Stanford studying Electrical Engineering, Teff expanded his range, integrating music technology and building out MMAP's new History through Hip Hop program. During his undergrad and following graduation Teff taught performing arts to MMAP youth for over three years. After building out three different HHH studios and producing dozens of tracks with young East Palo Alto artists, Teff returned to his home in Los Angeles and began to explore the business aspect of the music industry, working in artist management and content production. Bridging both worlds and boasting experience in branding, production, and business development, Teff plans to increase visibility and range for young hip hop artists upon his return to MMAP.