Celebrating, Remembering, and Visioning from the Clubhouse Annual Conference
Mimi Shalf and Ricarose Roque along with other members of our Facilitating Computational Tinkering team attended the 2023 Annual Conference for The Clubhouse Network to share our work. It was also the 30th anniversary of The Clubhouse Network (TCN) and we were happy to be part of the celebrations as many members of our team have been collaborating with Clubhouses around the world for many years. TCN is a global youth-serving organization that has spaces around the world for young people from underserved communities to explore ideas, connect with mentors and other young people, and express themselves with technologies. The annual conference gathers staff from Clubhouses around the world and other key members of the network to connect, learn together, and share ideas and stories across the community. Clubhouse staff include coordinators who manage Clubhouse spaces and support youth and mentors.
Celebrating and Remembering with OctoStudio
Building on the theme of “Celebrating and Remembering,” we asked workshop participants to create OctoStudio projects about things close to their heart, whether it be a person they love or a memory from the past. Participants used their mobile devices to collaborate with their neighbors and share their projects with others at the table. Focused attention, animated conversation, and laughter was happening around the room throughout the session. Not only did most people make multiple projects, but we saw a wide range of projects that incorporated media and memories — from photos of their students’ art to beautiful drawings made in the paint editor. Many participants also made wonderful games or interactive cards featuring their family members. A major piece of feedback was that OctoStudio felt welcoming and easy to use, and coordinators saw a lot of opportunity in using it to engage their youth in other subjects.
What Equity Means to Me Zine
We hosted a workshop to engage conference participants in a “What Equity Means to Me” zine session. Participants reflected on common questions from the perspective of their individual experiences and the community they work with. Most wanted more time for digging into these questions. Many were interested in bringing the zine back to their colleagues and administrators to extend conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion at their organizations. We got lots of feedback to adapt the zine to engage youth in reflecting on what equity means to them and their spaces. We hope to collaborate with coordinators and other informal educators to try out the zine with teens. Clubhouse coordinators were interested in teens having a voice in this conversation both as a learning experience for teens and to inform Clubhouse design and practice.
Creative Learning and AI: Reinforcing the Guiding Principles of the Clubhouse Network
For every conference our team attended this year, AI has been a frequent topic of conversation. Co-founders of The Clubhouse Network Mitchel Resnick and Natalie Rusk led a keynote session on “Creative Learning and AI.” We appreciated how Mitch and Natalie continued to reinforce the values that have guided The Clubhouse Network despite the technological changes that have emerged over the last 30 years. These values include helping youth members build on their own interests and creating an environment of respect and trust. Instead of feeling pressure to master and integrate the latest technologies, they encouraged Clubhouse staff to trust and be guided by these values, the knowledge and relationships they have with their youth and communities, and the expertise they have and continue to collectively expand. Mitch and Natalie argued that even though generative AI technologies can produce text and visuals they urged coordinators to be critical of how these technologies can be used in the creative process — tools that support young people’s agency, visions, and choices rather than subverting and replacing them. They shared examples of how Clubhouse coordinators use AI-driven technologies to support members’ creative process such as making suggestions for code to use or helping extend visual imagery youth created.
Youth Activism and Advocacy
We were also inspired by a keynote panel that featured Clubhouse coordinators who participated in the Youth Activism and Advocacy program. The panel was facilitated by Jaleesa Trapp, an MIT doctoral student and former Clubhouse member and coordinator herself, who led the program with Lynn Murray, the associate director of TCN. To participate in the Youth Advocacy and Activism program, Clubhouse coordinators had to propose a project that was youth-led and adult supported that included a recommendation letter from youth members. Over the course of a year, coordinators supported their members across a variety of youth-driven projects, which included:
A podcast called “Loud Whispers” to share essential information to undocumented families from the Redwood City Clubhouse in California
An educational initiative to advocate for queer and trans youth in their school from the Canberra Clubhouse in Australia
A community art project to increase pedestrian safety through the use of street art from the Summit Academy Clubhouse in Minnesota
We were also inspired by the way that Jaleesa and Lynn created a cohort of coordinators to learn from one another about how to support their youth in leading and creating social change in their communities. During their twice monthly meetings as a cohort, being able to share stories, strategies, and challenges was an important part of their individual and collective learning experiences. For example, Clubhouse coordinators shared the challenges of knowing how to step back to ensure youth were leading, but also knowing when to step in to support youth when they needed it.
Project Showcase
The Project Showcase was another inspirational series of sessions that provided a lot of insight into the different Clubhouses. Across two Project Showcase sessions, every Clubhouse gets a table where they display projects created by their youth based on their interests. These youth projects included perler bead crafts, 3D-printed technology, artwork of all forms and formats, games, music, video media, and more. In addition to sharing projects, many Clubhouses also brought snacks, stickers, pins, and crafts made by their members to give to people to take home. Coordinators and other conference participants can talk to presenters, ask questions, and get inspiration or ideas for their own space. A few of our highlights:
The East L.A. Clubhouse shared members’ artwork around their identity and community, as well as photo zines about the gentrification in their neighborhood that we were told came out of their regular photo nature walks. They had prints, stickers, and postcards of the artwork for people to take home!
Multiple Clubhouses were creating low-floor, high reward activities for members who come in unsure of what to do. The activities ranged from micro:bit projects to recycled crafts, and were arranged with instructions throughout the Clubhouses.
We participated in the Lower East Side Clubhouse’s photo project where they take a photo each time somebody comes to their Clubhouse and hang it on their wall. They took polaroids of everybody who came to their table and had them on display.
Reflection
Overall, spending time with the clubhouse coordinators was so inspirational, powerful, and joyful. We learned so much from the people we met and received many great ideas for future work and collaborations. Thank you to the Clubhouse Network for having us!