American Civics: Educating the Citizens

American Civics: Educating the Citizens is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to educating Americans as to their rights and duties as citizens of this country, while inspiring activism on issues of social justice.

Applying Dr. Howard Gardner’s theories of Multiple Intelligence, we are attempting to “educate” using art and visual media in a narrative format. Our initial focus was on specific issues of social justice including; the Voting Rights Act, Mass Incarceration, Income Inequality and Poverty, and Workers Rights and the Minimum Wage.

This resulted in the creation of a fine art series by Michael Powers in collaboration with contemporary artist Shepard Fairey entitled, American Civics: Educating the Citizens, released in May of 2016 (americancivics.com).

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the prints is being given to non-profit organizations working to address these issues of social justice. They include the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, #Cut50, an organization dedicated to addressing the issue of Mass Incarceration in this country, and the United Farm Workers Foundation, among others.