Harding Fine Arts Academy Foundation - State of the Arts Fall 2021

MERCY & JUSTICE CONFERENCE

The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded Harding Fine Arts Academy a $29,000 grant last fall to support integrating arts with criminal and social justice reform for the benefit of the students, teachers, families, and surrounding Oklahoma City community. The Academy was only one of five awardees in the state of Oklahoma and only one of two in the Oklahoma City area to receive this prestigious award.

This program allowed our students to explore the topic of criminal justice reform through literatureand art as well as host the Mercy & Justice Conference.

Students began the spring semester of their English class by reading and analyzing Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson – a powerful, bold true story about the potential for mercy to redeem America, and a call to fix America’s broken system of justice. Stevenson is one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers in the country. We gave out over 400 books to the entire student body and community, so that more people could participate in the weekly book club leading up to the conference.

After school book club

On Tuesday, February 22, classic film historian and president of Reel Classics, Elizabeth Anthony, facilitated a screening of a 1955 film Trial in the school auditorium. The Oscar-nominated film examines the American criminal justice system in the mid-20th century. During the presentation, Ms. Anthony shared the historical context around the film, film production techniques, and compared the modern-day justice system to the one described in the film. Unfortunately, there have not been a lot of changes.

On Thursday, February 24, Oklahoma County District Judge Kenneth M. Stoner moderated a panel of community leaders and experts in criminal justice reform in Oklahoma. The panelists discussed the reasons behind why Oklahoma has the highest incarceration rate in the world, policies that led to this alarming statistic and what the Oklahoma legislature is doing about it.

During a day-time assembly, Oklahoma Innocence Project, talked with students about the Innocence Project and how they identify and remedy cases of wrongful conviction in Oklahoma.

Ending the conference, the HFAA Black Student Association performed works of music, dance, and spoken word for about 400 audience members. All original works aligned with the conference theme of mercy and justice.

The purpose of this program was to battle the effects of social isolation due to COVID-19 and promote community-wide healing by creating a safe and encouraging environment that brings disenfranchised communities back together through positive public discourse.

“We were so fortunate to be able to host this exceptional and innovative program for our students,” said Principal Keith Campbell. “I am very proud of the imaginative faculty and staff who worked so hard to make this a reality.”