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Katharine Means The Roof Is On Fire

1. CONTEXT: What were the circumstances that framed the meaning and process of this project? This project came from a need to change the narrative around intercity teenagers being presented in the media as society's "problem".

2. CONTENT: What was the issue, need, idea or opportunity addressed by this project?
The project addressed issues that affected these teenagers lives such as sex, violence, values, families, school and the future.

3: FORM: What is the medium that was used to address or embody the content?
Over 200 high school students sat in parked cars on a parking structure rooftop discussing provocative issues with each other while the audience walked around choosing conversations to listen to, but not participate in.

4. STAKEHOLDERS: Which are the groups or individuals that invested in the process and outcomes of project?
The stakeholders in this project were the students and teachers of Oakland area high schools. Some students acted as student organizers with artists Suzanne Lacey, Chris Johnson, and Annice Jacoby of the California College of Arts and Crafts. 

5. AUDIENCE: For whom was this project conceived? 
This project was created to give the students a platform to voice their opinions. The generally white, upper-middle class audience was able to see these teens in a new light.

6. ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES: How were the stakeholders, audiences, and others engaged/connected to the project?
The students were engaged in conversation with each other during the piece, however there was some concern from both students and teachers that this project would end up becoming an "anthropological experiment" for the benefit of the artists and audience not the students. The audience at the event had to crane their necks in order to listen to the students which Lacey describes as the "audience performing the act of listening and the teenagers performing the act of self revelation... creating model of society". Artist and Media Specialist Annice Jacoby worked closely with the news media to broadcast the teenagers voices throughout the Bay Area.


7. GOAL: What are this project's objectives?
To counter teenage stereotypes in the media. To force adults to listen directly to teens.

8. VALUES: What were the project's guiding values or core beliefs? How were they expressed in the process?
The artist Chris Johnson and other teachers were interested in promoting media literacy and exposing how negative portrayals of teens of color in the media can become a self fulfilling prophecy.
 
9. RESOURCES: What tangible and intangible resources were used to pursue the project's goals?
Around $100,000 was needed to provide elements for this project such as rented cars, the parking structure, marketing, and other infrastructure. There was concern over keeping the presence of security low profile and not involving the police. The documentary foes not specify if the artists, or participants, were paid. The largest intangible resource was the dedication of the students to the project.

10: OUTCOMES: What were the results of this project? 
The project allowed teenagers to present themselves in their own words and challenges audiences to think about teenagers in a more inclusive way.

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