2026 Community & Youth Organizing Series

Reimagining Justice Through Art: Youth and Community Organizing Event Series

In this moment of increasing authoritarianism, attacks on intellectual exchange and growth and organizing on college campuses, banning of books, intentional disruption of nonprofit human services, and overall attacks on efforts to assert and defend human rights, the work of organizers, educators, and students, have and will continue to become more difficult.

Throughout history the tool of art has been effective and informing, inspiring, and mobilizing people across the world. This year, CUNY SPS Community and Youth Organizing event series will explore the effectiveness of art as a tool for social change with three exceptional sessions, Wednesday, January 7th, 14th, and 21st from 6 PM-8 PM.

Join Us! Explore and register for one or the full series below:

Discover the power of youth leadership and creative activism through IMPACT Repertory Theatre Performance Company, a performance company where young people transform current events and personal experiences into art that inspires action. Reaching more than 25,000 people each year—from the United Nations to NYC City Hall—IMPACT uses performance as a platform for truth, healing, and change. Their intensive twelve-week Boot Camp develops emerging leaders through training in public speaking, service, and artistic expression. Grounded in the belief that leadership begins with service, IMPACT members also give back through community initiatives, including visits to nursing homes, food drives, and neighborhood cleanups.

This panel will highlight their powerful model of leadership, artistry, and community impact.

Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices From a Plantation Prison is a gripping documentary that follows acclaimed playwright Liza Jessie Peterson inside the Louisiana State Penitentiary, widely known as Angola Prison. During a performance of her powerful one-woman show, The Peculiar Patriot, the production was suddenly shut down mid-performance — a dramatic interruption that only underscored the very themes of censorship, control, and mass incarceration that the piece confronts.

The film reveals how Peterson’s work challenged the nation’s largest plantation prison and how, despite efforts to erase her presence, the performance left a lasting emotional and political impact on the incarcerated men who witnessed it. Through interviews, archival moments, and the voices of the men inside, the documentary highlights the transformative role of art in spaces designed to silence.

Following the screening, we invite you to stay for a dynamic conversation with Professor Lumumba Bandele, who will guide a dialogue that connects the film’s themes to current movements for justice. Together, we will explore the power of storytelling, the urgency of advocacy, and the ongoing fight for human rights within the carceral system.

Running Time: 27 Minutes

Black August Hip-Hop Project is a compelling documentary filmed over the course of ten years, traveling from New York City to Cuba and South Africa to bring attention to political prisoners in the United States. The film captures the work of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, whose mission is to free political prisoners, and offers a powerful look at the intersection of music, activism, and global solidarity.

Through rare interviews with former political prisoners, intellectuals, and organizers, including Assata Shakur, Kathleen Cleaver, and Nehanda Abiodun, the film brings forward voices and stories often left out of mainstream narratives. Woven through these conversations are electrifying performances from hip-hop legends Talib Kweli, Mos Def, David Banner, Dead Prez, and Common, whose artistry amplifies the film’s central themes of resistance, liberation, and cultural expression.

Following the screening, we invite you to stay for a thoughtful discussion led by Professor Lumumba Bandele, as we reflect on the insights shared by artists and organizers in the film and consider how those lessons continue to shape today’s movements for justice.

Running Time: 78 Minutes

Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele is the Director of Community Organizing and Advocacy at the Alliance of Families for Justice. He briefly served as the director of Strategic Partnerships with Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) in 2020 and from 2011 to 2020 he served as the Director of Community Organizing at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. He is a community organizer and educator from Central Brooklyn.

From 1994 – 1998 Lumumba served as programming coordinator at the Franklin H. Williams Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCC). During his tenure at CCC, he also co-found Azabache, an organizers training conference and workshop series for young activists. All the while as a Black Studies Major at City College of NY/CUNY, he went on to receive his Masters in Human Service from Lincoln University in 1998. As a member and organizer with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Mr. Akinwole-Bandele helped establish its campaign to counter police abuse and misconduct.

He also co-founded the world-renowned Black August Hip Hop Project. Black August raises awareness and support for political prisoners in the United States. From 2002 to 2007 Lumumba served as a counselor and lecturer at Medgar Evers College/CUNY. Over the years he has taught at Pratt Institute, City College of NY, Lehman College, San Francisco State University and currently serves as an adjunct lecturer teaching Community Organizing at CUNY School of Professional Studies.

Reimagining Justice through Art