Advocacy Month 2019 is here, and we couldn’t be more excited! This year, the three National Advocacy-related Task Forces are working together to make the content bigger and better than ever. The vast majority of the content will be shared directly through the AIAS Advocacy Instagram account, so be sure to follow @aias_advocacy to keep up with Advocacy Month 2019!
The goal of Advocacy Month is to showcase how to make advocacy a tangible and productive tool, such that AIAS members and chapters can use their voices and collective strength to tackle real issues in architecture school, in the profession, and in our communities. This is being achieved by utilizing each week within the month of March to highlight a distinct scale of advocacy – ranging from community-level advocacy all the way down to member-level advocacy.
The weekly breakdown of the month and the corresponding scales of advocacy can be seen in the graphic below:
The Resiliency, Equity and Diversity, and Health and Wellness Task Forces will each be shedding light on how their respective advocacy realms can be addressed at the four distinct scales. Through a combination of surveys, gathered information, discussion topics, real-world examples, valuable strategies, and more, the three task forces aim to educate and empower you, our members, on how to use advocacy to truly make a difference. Take a peek at the unique content and programming each task force will be sharing below:
Resiliency Task Force
“Resilience” is a buzzword often confused with sustainability. In response, the aspiration of the Resiliency Task Force has been to explore multi-scalar interpretations of resiliency — in the classroom, the workplace, the community, and the urban landscape. To further this aim during Advocacy Month, the Task Force will be addressing how we can promote resiliency in our communities and AIAS chapters. This will include examining what contributes to a resilient studio culture, as well as highlighting firms and chapters that have successfully integrated resiliency practices. Join us as we expose the underlying causes of existing conditions in architectural education and showcase proactive solutions that will help ensure a more resilient future.
Equity and Diversity Task Force
We hear a lot about equity and diversity, but what exactly is it? How does equity affect us at the workplace? How does diversity better our experiences in school? Well the Equity and Diversity Task Force has been finding the answers to these questions. We’ve asked students and architects alike about each topic and found several great stories that we want to share with y’all. Walk with us as we demystify these big, ambiguous words and learn how you can start to change your school or workplace needs.
Health and Wellness Task Force
The Health and Wellness Task Force will be shining a light on the various health and wellness-related issues that are pervasive throughout many’s time in architecture school. By using our social media platform to share our strategies and encourage others to share theirs, we hope to highlight the importance of proper studio culture, time-management, nutrition, sleep, and other subjects that have long been considered “taboo” in our field of study. We want to show that it’s okay to admit that you’re not okay.
We hope that by unveiling and directly discussing the issues of resiliency, equity, diversity, health, and wellness facing architectural education and the profession today, you and your fellow AIAS advocates will be inspired to brainstorm ways we, as architecture students, can combat our disparate obstacles and use our voices to positively impact our communities!
