Club KnowHow met at Lonsdale Elementary in an after-school program that supported students in developing leadership skills and learning about community engagement. Students created a vision map of their ideal school, identifying a safer school playground as their campaign. The school has since replaced a broken swing set with a brand new swing set the students greatly appreciate! Students also created a newsletter to communicate their work with classmates, teachers, and parents; met with community leaders to learn about organizing and leadership; and used visual art and music to communicate and share their experiences.
Norwood Elementary students worked with KnowHow artist-mentors beginning Spring 2015 to design and create a mural that celebrates the school’s community garden. The project also addressed food justice and engaged youth in examining access to and preparation of healthy, local food.
Our 2016-17 year programming, through partnerships with Knox County Health Department and Community Television of Knoxville, focused on food justice and community gardening. Students learned about and addressed food scarcity issues in their communities, as well as planned and implemented youth-led community health days in their neighborhood. This whole process was documented by students, culminating in a short documentary film shared with the community.
The 2015-16 school year focused on students producing a cable access show, “Straight Outta Vine”, in partnership with Community Television of Knoxville. Youth participants explored the power of media and the importance of telling their own stories. They decided to use the show to combat negative perceptions of their school and neighborhoods by highlighting the strength of their school, interviewed faculty and staff who use creative learning techniques and shared their experiences and stories with a broad audience.
In the Spring of 2015 youth participants used a democratic process to choose a project that would respond to community needs which culminated in a mural painting party and community cookout. Students designed a mural, worked with a professional artist to refine their ideas, included noted community leaders from East Knoxville history in the mural, planned the menu for a cookout and designed and printed a flyer for the event. Their work resulted in over sixty community members joining the youth participants to paint their mural at Dr. Walter Hardy Park.
During the 2014-15 school year students examined and celebrated community history and health. Each student created a neighborhood map and identified areas of note, researching the history behind street names, monuments and community buildings. They were each given a disposable camera to highlight their experiences and document current issues in comparison with the history they examined. The interviews, maps, articles and photographs they created were collected in a booklet named by the students “A Scrap of the Future, A Piece of the Past: A Vine Middle School Community History” that was printed and shared for free with the school and community, ending with a book signing by the student participants.
FYI Peer Education
Identity Project
The FYI Peer Education Program and KnowHow Knoxville presented The Identity Project, a multimedia exhibition that provided students and community members an opportunity to express their understanding of the word "identity" through an artistic medium. Applicants were encouraged to submit projects in any medium – painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, video, spoken word, etc. – to share their lived experiences with gender, sexual orientation, race, ability, gender roles, and/or any other aspects of identity. The goal of The Identity Project is to create a fun, safe, and educational event that helps individuals become more comfortable versions of themselves.
Blount Co. Youth Arts Workshop
KnowHow's Blount County fall program explored life skills and arts-related activities to promote creativity, self-empowerment, and positive choices.
Knoxville Girls Rock Camp is an intensive, six-day camp held each summer for young women, transgender, and gender non-conforming youth ages 9-17. We bring together young people from diverse communities, experiences, and perspectives and encourage them to explore self-expression through music, build meaningful alliances with others, and effect positive change in their communities and in the world. Our programs are open to players of all levels of musical experience (including those with no previous musical experience). We offer sliding scale tuition and scholarships to support campers of diverse identities, perspectives, and interests to participate in the program.
Click the links below to find out more about Knoxville Girls Rock Camp.
Volunteer Information and Application