Li Sumpter, scholar filmmaker and teaching artist for "Survival Guide for the Future." — Li Sumpter, scholar filmmaker and teaching artist for “Survival Guide for the Future.”

Octavia Butler’s prescient novel, Parable of the Sower and recent Marvel blockbuster, Black Panther are helping U School teachers Charlie McGeehan and Sam Reed re-imagine humanities education. With the help of local artist and scholar, Li Sumpter and in collaboration with The Galleries at Moore, they developed a multi-disciplinary, multi-media curriculum which empowers high schoolers to think proactively about their futures in face of disastrous times — Survival Guide for the Future.

Does a curriculum that looks towards tomorrow belong in a history class? Do you really need a weapon in your go-bag? Listen to find out. This conversation was recorded on July 31st, 2018 at Moore College of Art and Design’s TGMR radio station. The podcast is 28 minutes long.

Exhibition catalogue for "Survival Guide for the Future." — Student-created zine for “Survival Guide for the Future.”

Survival Guide for the Future, Galleries at Moore, 20th and the Parkway, August 4 – September 9. Opening reception is Friday August 3 from 5-8pm.

More about Li Sumpter’s other projects at her website.

Thank you to The Galleries at Moore TGMR radio project for making this podcast available, and especially to Matt Kalasky for inviting Artblog to participate in the Moore TGMR radio project.

Afrofuturism and disaster preparedness in the classroom? We talk with Li Sumpter, Charlie McGeehan and Sam Reed

By Matt Kalasky August 2, 2018

Matt Kalasky speaks with artist Li Sumpter and educators Charlie McGeehan and Sam Reed about “Survival Guide for the Future” — an emergency preparedness, Afrofuturist and post-apocalyptic inspired curriculum conducted this spring at the U School High School in collaboration with The Galleries at Moore College of Art & Design. Culminating in both a student-created zine and an exhibition at The Galleries at Moore (opening tomorrow, Friday, Aug. 3, 2018), this project gave students a platform to reflect on their current lives and imagine a vibrant teen-centric Philadelphia of the future.