Ancestors in Training™ is an educational praxis project that was sparked by the following quote:
“We are the ancestors of the future and what we do now will have an impact.”
- Yeye Luisah Teish
Visit the AIT website for current information!
Project Timeline
Ancestors in Training™ was first offered as a concept at the inaugural edition of the Diasporadicalx Conference in December 2017. As interest in the concept grew, the forms it took did.
At first, a three part series was created to expand the project that ran from July to October of 2018. This was in partnership and collaboration with the Caribbean Cultural Center (CCCADI), the series was recorded and live streamed.
This framework was also taught as a course to youth as a part of the Summer Institute of the Sadie Nash Leadership Project during Summer 2018 and 2019. During these years, pop sessions and activations occurred in partnership with: The Black Girl Project’s Sisterhood Summit, the Mystic Soul Conference, Byas & Leon, BreadxButta, and the Studio Museum of Harlem.
2020 marked the third year of the project and it’s continuation as an intimate experience in partnership with What to Make of Earth and Dust, Ethel’s Club, Indigenous Mental Health Awareness Network International and El Museo del Barrio.
The beginning 2021 marked the fourth cycle and new communities, through a four-part residency with Ethel’s Club, as well individual sessions with IDHA NYC, local high schools, metaDEN, and once again as a course with the Sadie Nash Leadership project.
Late 2021 into early 2022 marked the fifth cycle of this project, Ancestors in Training was selected to participate in the bi-annual Allied Media Conference, and was awarded a space grant to offer a free session in collaboration with the Weeksville Heritage Center. Participation has been partially funded - a first for this grassroots project - through receiving one of the Spring 2022 Reclamation Ventures grant for Healing Practices For Grief.
Closing out the fifth cycle, Ancestors in Training™ will be taught as a six-week experience, Preserving Our Histories, Sustaining Our Legacies, in collaboration with Amplify RJ (Restorative Justice).
We’re looking to the future and honoring the present times, we anticipate a growing demand for programming and will push ourselves to rise to the challenges and triumphs that 2022 will bring.