Centering The Identity Of The Black
Child Through African Culture

Exposing our youth to various arts and forms of communication: movement, music,
dance, reading, song, storytelling, story writing, and hands on science

Accessibility

Making African creative programs accessible to children in their home communities

Exposure

Exposing and sharing African values, principals, character development through arts integrative praxis

Collaboration

Illuminating the power of collective work between community based organizations and African cultural institutions

About us

Too often, African American children are not given the opportunity to learn to value and appreciate their cultural heritage and associated knowledge. These children are many times depicted as having no culture or as having a peripheral and stagnant role in both world history and contemporary society. Seldom are our children given leadership roles. Seldom are they held up as examples of goodness, decency, scholarship, genius, kindness, beauty, manhood/womanhood, or childhood.

Children’s Window To Africa was created over 25 years ago by Dr Valerie Iya Adeniji Lawrence. After becoming presented with research that demonstrated the power of doing art within their own communities, Iya Adeniji was urged to create a program based on these findings which was housed primarily in public housing communities within the Greater Pittsburgh area. Initially the Children’s Window to Africa began as a summer program, but after it started to achieve notable results, the program expanded to additional communities eventually operating in almost 20 areas. Once it grew, it became a year-round program that was able to provide training and employment for all of its artists and staff.