Projects
Teach To Empower is seeking to help revolutionize education by empowering students as active co-creators of their own learning journey. Through the concept of ‘Restorative Justice’ practices, which has its roots in indigenous cultures around the world, we erase educational disproportionalities and disparities and foster creativity, inclusivity and better citizenry, while reducing high school attrition rates, elevating post-secondary enrollment rates, and enhancing career readiness.
We achieve this by implementing learner centered approaches, culturally diverse curricula while developing the whole child through arts education, ultimately reshaping the education landscape and empowering students to become visionary change makers. Our forward thinking vision is to work with at-risk children and young men and women in Texas. Our ‘trauma informed’ Teach to Empower art education program brings autonomy and confidence to youths through storytelling and self expression.
Project 1 - Teach To Empower (San Antonio, Texas)
We believe that our outreach towards the community along with support from local businesses and entrepreneurs, our Teach to Empower programs has immense potential for growth and expansion. For the past year, we have been and continue to collaborate with community partners like the Bexar County Juvenile Probation Department along with other professionals and talent from various fine arts fields to ensure new and exciting offerings. Our mission is to make this program a beacon of creativity, empowerment, and opportunity for the youth we serve while expanding our educational reach to positively impact more lives.
For the last 14 years, Hayden de M. Yates has taught Visual Composition, Digital Film & Video Production and photography whether it was for the design or real estate professional, or a community based class or at the Art Institute of Austin, and saw many of his graduated students through the course of their professional journey to become professionals and entrepreneur in their own field, whether is was cinematography, producing, directing, sound production, photography and other aspects of the motion picture industry.
A Cut, a short film adapted from an original poem written by another youth, was shot and completed in a week by our Teach to Empower youth none of whom have ever touched a camera before.
As part of an artistic collaboration with Justice Impacted Youth, and Gemini Ink, our ‘trauma informed’ Art Education program provides opportunities for youth to become autonomous, resilient and gain confidence in the process of creative self expression.
Be an impact on y(our) communities and be a part of the change by joining us at SEE to ACT.
Project 2 - Robb Elementary (Uvalde, Texas)
On May 24th, 2022, 19 children and 2 teachers were slaughtered by a disgruntled 18 year old teenager at Robb Elementary School in the small town of Uvalde, Texas. Just over two weeks later, we traveled there to see how we could help this community heal, and this is what we saw and felt. So as a parent myself, I could only imagine the pain that tore through this community and felt compelled to make a little film to honor the families who’ve tragically lost their precious little ones and friends and keep their memory alive. Our hearts are broken. There are no more words to express…
You can click on the image above to watch the 3:27 minute short.
We want to thank LEX Music for the beautiful soundtrack, the license of which we purchased through Envato.
Click on the image to see the video
Project 3 - American Voice: A Film Project (Texas and beyond)
The programs and films we help produce are designed with a vision of giving voice and reconnecting all indigenous people with their own identities, heritage and traditions – ones that may have been forgotten or repressed due to social, political, or economic forces and conflicts. This will also become a global repository that archives native and tribal traditions in the form of ‘cultural film stories’ from all over the world.
This is both an idea for a film project and also functions as a repository of video stories designed to bring together indigenous families that have been separated as a result of past persecution and the on-going racial, social and political bias and tensions that continue to resonate in Texas and elsewhere. This project is designed to inspire curiosity among a younger generation and shed light to a forgotten story that will help individuals explore their own identity and culture, and possibly reconnect them with long lost family relatives. Click on the various individual images to listen to each of their stories.
SEE to ACT is in no way affiliated with any political or religious movement or group. We are diverse individuals from all walks of life who wish to positively contribute to our world. Contributions, large or small, are treated with gratitude and respect.