Intergenerational sharing as knowledge building at MIAD

House of History, UWM and MIAD, “The Memory Quilt,” 2024.

Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) instructor Hj Bullard continued a longstanding collaboration with House of History this semester in their First-Year Experience “Community Partnerships” class.

As part of their coursework, students in Bullard’s class met with LGBT+ elders to share intergenerational knowledge about COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS. MIAD students created a quilt inspired by the event. The intergenerational sharing continued during a panel discussion on elder health care and aging at UW-Milwaukee.

Bullard shared their thoughts about the project:

Why is it important for students at MIAD to experience working intergenerationally and with organizations outside of the college? Why with House of History specifically?
Intergenerational conversations and spaces are so important when it comes to understanding and sustaining any community. Learning how to truly listen to the experiences of others and build better knowledge of history, and to the human experience outside of our own in general, is a vital part of living and working in any community.

For MIAD students, many of whom will enter the art and design industries where they make products for others, it’s vital that they learn how to talk with, work with, and hear others’ experiences, concerns and needs. It’s also important that they learn to ask useful, validating questions that promote visibility rather than erasure.

I wanted us to work with House of History specifically for this unit on education justice, because I’ve seen how important it is for people of all ages to hear and learn from each other’s experiences, to see themselves reflected in past events and in the world around them as people of intersectional experience. Whether they are a fellow LGBTQ+ community member, an ally, a BIPoC person, a disabled person, a trauma survivor, a business owner, an author, a healthcare provider or all of the above, sharing intergenerational stories and experiences is so powerful.

Representation, and an open ear, can literally mean everything to an individual, and a community. For my students to see themselves reflected in the local community and understand that there are many routes to knowledge is about the most powerful thing I can possibly do for them.

House of History, UWM and MIAD, “The Memory Quilt,” 2024.

How do you see students in your classes shaping change and supporting their communities using their creative skills?
I think our students are uniquely positioned in MIAD to bring their life experiences and skills together with the need they see in the world around them. My students are actively learning what matters to them and their communities, and they already have powerful voices to share as cultural producers and creatives.

We focus mostly on nonprofit work, and organizations who have been historically disenfranchised. Often there simply isn’t the capacity for creative outreach in these organizations, but emotive content, visual storytelling and good design is incredibly impactful in our socially and content driven world. Our students are storytellers and culture shapers, and they are only just beginning to uncover their potential. These kinds of partnerships can give everyone involved a foothold towards new possibilities.

Anything you’d like to add about this project?
I am incredibly grateful to House of History, in particular co-founders Janice Toy and Dr. Brice Smith, UWM and MIAD for understanding that sharing lived experience is at least as valuable as any other form of knowledge production and education, and I am humbled that this work contributed towards MIAD’s recent award from the WI LGBT Chamber of Commerce.

Explore House of History and learn more about MIAD’s First-Year Experience.