Suncoast Black Arts Collaborative Launches 'Syllabus of Color' Initiative
![Michéle Des Verney Redwine, the president and founder of the Suncoast Black Arts Collaborative](https://res.cloudinary.com/sagacity/image/upload/c_crop,h_3488,w_3071,x_0,y_0/c_limit,dpr_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_80,w_1080/Michele_Des_Verney_Redwine_01_LR_folqsh.jpg)
Michéle Des Verney Redwine, president and founder of the Suncoast Black Arts Collaborative
Image: Courtesy Photo
The Suncoast Black Arts Collaborative—which promotes using the unifying power of the arts to nurture inclusion and diversity across the regional arts and cultural landscape—recently launched its three-year “Syllabus of Color” initiative, a comprehensive effort to tackle systemic disparities and to engage families, schools, and cross-sector community partners to implement the principles of diversity and inclusion in arts education in area-based middle and high schools. The first tier of the project begins with students in fifth through ninth grades at Booker Middle School and Booker High School. A significant $106,700 grant from the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation will be directed to hiring teaching artists, community relations managers and a project manager. Syllabus of Color also invites college students studying the arts to volunteer as mentors.