Client: The Friends of the Cleveland School of the Arts

The A Choice of Weapons video documents a school wide program at the Cleveland School of the Arts based on Gordon Parks’ book, A Choice of Weapons, which advocates choosing the arts over your fist to resolve conflict.

I elected to conducted a two week artist-in-residency teaching video production and storytelling so students could participate in interviewing fellow students and gain a vested interest in the video.  By collaborating with the students, I was able to determine why the A Choice of Weapons program was successful in reducing violence and creating excellence in the school.  An introduction of student art work and the opening of the program plays in this clip.  The music was composed and performed by students.