Mississippi Cultural Crossroads

Two youth perform in a lively poetry reading.

"Mississippi Cultural Crossroads is the busiest place in town other than the local banks and the grocery stores," says Shirley McBride, whose daughters, now 21 and 18, and son, 12, have participated in Crossroads programs every year since first grade. In addition to the McBrides, some 1,180 young people each year are drawn to this center and its year-round, after-school programs. In a county-Claiborne-where local youth are still largely segregated into public and private schools, Crossroads brings them together to document the life of the community through the arts and humanities.

Since its launch in 1978 with National Endowment for the Humanities funds, youth have received training in the use of audio equipment, transcription, video techniques, photography, computer use, and interviewing for folk arts documentation. With these skills, they have produced four journals of oral histories and photo-graphs entitled I Ain't Lying and a memorable production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet that captured local idiom and themes and involved virtually the entire community.

In another theatrical venture, since the summer of 1983 Crossroads has sponsored the Peanut Butter & Jelly Theater (PB&J)-a troupe of seven high school students who, under the guidance of a visiting theater professional, develop and stage performances that promote literacy. Using the theme "Be A Reader," PB&J youth perform locally, then tour Mississippi and Louisiana, performing for 5,000 children in libraries, community centers, and housing projects.

Another special project, the Young Person's Cultural Exchange Program, engages up to 25 youth in intensive art instruction to cultivate the language and skills for awareness and dialogue about self, identity, race, and community. They create a body of work that explores the ways culture shows itself in people's livesÑin individual identity, family and friends, place and neighborhood, food, celebration, spirituality, school and work, play and recreation, sickness and healing. The newest program is a two-year project, sponsored by the Kellogg Foundation, to teach young people not only about the use and care of photography and video equipment but also concepts for understanding a community's past and making a record for its future.