About Mas Puentes - Menos Muros
Más Puentes / Menos Muros ( More Bridges / Less Walls) is an initiative for Blair’s International Academy students to share their journeys with a larger audience in order to increase understanding about current and past immigrant and refugee communities in Pasadena. In spring 2020, during the first phase of the workshop, students from both International Academy and Blair's Dual Language Immersion Program participated in storytelling and art workshops. Due to the pandemic, the project was put on hold.
In spring 2021, Más Puentes / Menos Muros workhops resumed via virtual sessions and in-person sessions once schools reopened. The project culminated in October 2021 with the launch of this website featuring art and stories created by students. In addition, students generated texts for banners that can be seen on PUSD school fences all around the city for the rest of the 2021-22 school year. Students' videos about their lives, their crossings, and their homes were produced and released by the Armory Center for the Arts.
The workshops were led by a writer/artist Sehba Sarwar. International Academy and Spanish Dual Language Immersion Program (DLIP) teachers Ms. Garcia and Ms. Arredondo played integral roles by working with students in between sessions and serving as translators during workshops.
Más Puentes / Menos Muros was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org.