IN two weeks, the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts will begin recruiting from this year’s graduates of the National Youth Service (NYS) for the award of six art fellowship grants.

The fellowships are valued at $10 million.

The one-year project, dubbed ‘Movements’, will see persons from the creative arts community draw inspiration from the realities of young persons with disabilities (PWDs), with a view to increase awareness of their realitites and challenge the negative perceptions of the community.

‘Movements’ will culminate in a grand exhibition of the art from these interactions in June, next year.

At the signing of the memorandum of understanding at the Edna Manley campus on May 11, Maureen Webber, chairman of the board of the National Youth Service remarked: “Through this programme,” she continued, “we intend to have young persons in the arts space connect with young persons with disabilities to experience their world and their disabilities. With their input, the artists then have the ability to showcase and to celebrate the abilities of those young persons to the public. We intend to showcase this work with not just an exhibition, but through traditional and new media to reach as many persons as possible, with the hope that over time, the attitudes towards disabilities will change.”

Principal of the college, Dr Nicholeen DeGrasse-Johnson, said she was pleased students will be able to use their art as a voice for behaviour change.

“The Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts welcomes the opportunity to participate in a programme that will encourage behaviour change and social inclusion in our society towards persons living with disabilities. We are equally pleased that our graduates and current students will be able to use their art as a voice of change towards inclusiveness in our society while at the same time expanding their earning capacity over time,” she said.

Calls for applications and recruitment will start on June 1.