CalArtians Cindy Santos Bravo (Art 06), Megan Broughton, and Karina Esperanza Yañez came together after years of considering the next phase of Black Mountain College in the 21st century. Within the course of two weeks, the School of Now came into the world and was visually led by Kailyn Bryant with additional vision by artist Larissa Gilbert. As a collective who uses education as a part of our respective practices, we empowered young leaders to believe in the present and subvert the online classroom to more productively become remote community happenings. We launched The School of Now in homage to the brave visionaries of Black Mountain College and all who sought to evolve Chouinard into CalArts. Our mission is that the foundation of tomorrow will be built through the joy of learning and harnessing a myriad of cultural, social, and emotional access points. The School of Now follows in the visionary footsteps of The New School at Columbia University (1919) and Black Mountain College (1933-1956). The School of Now views education as an expansive field, far outside the bounds of a school building, of mutual knowledge, healthy relationships, and supportive networks that take shape as civic duties and exciting responsibilities. The School of Now is grounded in a paradigm shift toward a cross-sector collaborative unlearning process where youth leaders and teaching artists design interactions with art as the point of departure. We seek the freedom to wildly roam through intellectual, spiritual, and emotional geographies in the pursuit of knowledge that is both remixed, refreshed, and revitalized for the nourishment of our equitable future. Youth and Educators of Color, Queer POC, and White co-conspirators believe, by attentively and consistently listening to one another, that we will be a part of a shared movement motivating new acts of inspiration and transformational change for the 21st century and beyond. We provide a reclamation curriculum and intersectional mindset of social justice, media, community activism, and art happenings on an inter-/national level. Learn more about us on The School of Now’s IG. https://www.instagram.com/theschoolofnow/