THE YOUNG PROGRAM
A SOCIAL BUSINESS BASED UPON THE “ACORN THEORY” & “PRINCIPLE OF INDIVIDUALITY”
GOAL
Exposing audiences of all ages to the works of children, in an effort to support, nurture, recognize & empower children to express their individuality & to acknowledge the importance of the expression of the “one” & its impact on the “many”.
VISION
The members wish the program to contribute to the realization of the following:
- Children’s art will reach a larger public;
- Children will be represented in artistic media;
- Children of all ages will be aware of, celebrate & be engaged in art;
- Children will receive additional recognition as an important part of individuality & its constructive expression.
DESIRED OUTCOMES
In contribution to the realization of this vision, the members wish the program to achieve the following specific outcomes:
- There will be a forum for children to express their individuality thru art;
- Children can receive positive, supportive acknowledgement of their uniqueness & confirmation of the value of their expressions;
- Children will find validation & a sense of acceptance in a forum larger than that which they are capable of effecting, & as such, come to understand their role in, & their ability to effect the world around them;
- Audiences will have access to the expressions of children thru art, participate in, & recognize the impact of that expression across generational boundaries;
- That this content, developed by members & presented by the program will be used in schools & other learning facilities;
- Members will develop new partnerships within their communities & other sources of interest;
- Members will develop new skills to participate in the knowledge society;
- Members will have increased opportunities to display their vital role in a child’s development.
- People will come to recognize the “Acorn Theory”.
... I don't develop; I am !
Pablo Piacasso
The Young Program
Philadelphia
“A Subtle Shift In Viewpoint”
The Declaration of Independence asserts that the American democratic state is founded upon a transcendent “Truth”:
“All Men Are Created Equal.”
What is the basis of this claim? Inequalities are there before the first breath. As for the circumstances into which we descend, what could be more unequal than our environments? Some are disadvantaged, others privileged by nurture and nature both – and from the beginning.
Since neither nurture nor nature gives equality, where do we even get the idea? It cannot be deduced by the facts of life; nor can equality be reduced to a factor common to all human beings. Because individual differences elaborate the common factor in billions of ways.
Equality can only be deduced from uniqueness, from what the scholastic philosophers called the “principal of individuality.” I am imagining this uniqueness as the “haeccitas” [medieval latin for “thisness”] in the genius as the formative factor given with each person’s birth so that she or he is “this” one and not some other one, anyone, no one.
So equality must be axiomatic, a given; as the Declaration of Independence says, that we are equal is a truth self-evident.
We are equal by the logic of eachness.
Hillman – “The Soul’s Code” – In Search of Character & Calling.