What does freedom mean today? Specifically, what do the concepts of freedom and democracy mean to our youth? The Wolfsonian–Florida International University will be developing a web-based curriculum and initiating a multi-pronged, online conversation with teens to explore these issues. The project, Four Freedoms: Teen Thoughts on Democracy Online, is an outgrowth of the museum’s Thoughts on Democracy exhibit that took place in late 2008 and was made possible with support from a Funding Arts Network/Knight New Work grant. Teen Thoughts on Democracy is supported by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation awarded in April 2010 for work to be completed from August 2010 through July 2011.
“We plan to engage teens on multiple levels to encourage, support, and provoke them to think deeply about the ideas that are so central to democracy—citizenship, civic engagement, and freedom,” explains Cathy Leff, The Wolfsonian’s director. “This initiative is a natural outgrowth of Thoughts on Democracy. It’s very exciting to be able to build on the success of the exhibition by reaching out to teens with an array of online materials and activities. We look forward to interacting with them and learning what they have to say.”
The innovative and widely exhibited Thoughts on Democracy project approached sixty renowned contemporary artists and designers and asked them to create original work inspired by Norman Rockwell’s “Four Freedoms” paintings. The exhibition, conceived by Wolfsonian art director Tim Hossler, was co-curated by Hossler; Steven Heller, co-chair of the MFA Designer as Author Department at the School of Visual Arts; and Marianne Lamonaca, The Wolfsonian’s associate director for curatorial affairs and education.
Rockwell’s paintings illustrated the ideals expressed in Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” speech to Congress in 1941, in which he envisioned a “world founded upon four essential human freedoms”—Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear.
The paintings, first published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1943, were later issued by the government as posters for a U.S. war bond drive. Part of the impetus for Thoughts on Democracy was a gift of the “Four Freedoms” posters to The Wolfsonian by Leonard A. Lauder.
In addition to being on view at The Wolfsonian, Thoughts on Democracy appeared on billboards and in newspapers and was on display at the Miami International Airport, the Aventura Mall, Miami Beach City Hall, Galeria Metropolitana in Mexico City, and is currently traveling to several public universities and colleges throughout the U.S.
Four Freedoms: Teens Thoughts on Democracy Online will have several digital and social media components to engage youth ages twelve through eighteen. The project’s objectives include building visual/media literacy and critical thinking skills, as well as creative use of online media so that users can respond in multiple modes. Wolfsonian assistant director of education and public programs Kate Rawlinson and school and youth programs manager Claudia Caro Sullivan will work with a teen advisory group and middle and high school teachers to develop the project materials. In addition to the website, the museum’s education department will produce an instructor guide with lesson plans and activities.
About The Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation fosters innovative solutions to many of the world’s most pressing challenges, affirming its mission, since 1913, to “promote the well-being” of humanity. Today, the Foundation works to ensure that more people can tap into the benefits of globalization while strengthening resilience to its risks. Foundation initiatives include efforts to mobilize an agricultural revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa, bolster economic security for American workers, inform equitable, sustainable transportation policies in the United States, ensure access to affordable and high-quality health systems in developing countries, accelerate the impact investing industry’s evolution, and develop strategies and services that help vulnerable communities cope with the impacts of climate change. For more information, please visit www.rockefellerfoundation.org.