http://www.gofundme.com/JamillaOkuboParsoTuition

Hello, My name is Jamilla Okubo. I am an Kenyan-American artist from Washington, D.C. Currently residing in New York City attending Parsons the New School for Design. I am currently a rising senior at Parsons studying Integrated Fashion Design (undergraduate), with a background in Fine Arts, and a focus on textiles and fashion design.  I have been attending Parsons for three years now and I am getting ready to graduate this year as well as complete my senior thesis. I am currently $72,000 in debt to Parsons the New School for Design. For the past three years my mother has assisted me by  paying the remainder of my tuition with the Parent Plus Loan. My mother has borrowed $43,000 of the Direct Parent Plus loan. I still owe $12,000 for my last (senior) year at Parsons and mother and I can no longer take out Direct Plus Loans.  I hope to be that minority student of color at Parsons, who represents the school, and inspires my younger siblings, and other minority/low-income students globally, to have the ambition and drive that I have, and not let financial issues get in the way of it.

As a minority student of color, I wholeheartedly appreciate and have taken full advantage of the amazing opportunities that I have received while being at Parsons, learning from amazing professors and peers. I need $10, 787 to pay for the rest of my tuition for my last year at Parsons. USAGE OF FUNDS: -Tuition: $10,787 -School Supplies (Fabric, muslin, pattern paper, designing tools, paint, canvases, lab fees, books, fieldtrip fees) My Senior Year Schedule Fall 2014 (19 credits) Entrepreneurship Design, Self & Society Futurism & Fashion Silkscreening Fashion, Illustration & Performance Art After Apartheid Winter: Strategies of Selling (course at FIT, 3 credits)  Spring 2015 (18 credits) Seminar Studio Portfolio Strategies 4000 Level lecture course Tailoring: Womenswear Couture Design: Techniques Fiction: Introduction ABOUT ME & MY PURPOSE AS AN ARTIST:  As a multidisciplinary artist I am able to combine my skills and knowledge to create and express myself. My artwork mainly focuses on people of the Diaspora (people of color), whom I consider my community. I use my artistic disciplines as tools to challenge myself in ways to give back to my community, educate, and empower them as well as the rest of the world. It is my duty to remind people of color that we have such a rich culture, and that we should love ourselves and one another. I create artwork for my community, because I believe that my purpose as an artist of color is to empower and educate my community. My artistic discipline connects me to my community by allowing me to create artwork that my community is able to enjoy, embrace, and share with others. I not only create my artwork for myself but what I express through the medium that I use, is a story that many in my community can relate to. When it comes to creating, I strongly believe in the fact that,  “Black art controls the “Negro’s” reality, negates negative influences, and creates positive images,” A quote by Sonia Sanchez. As an artist of color coming from a low-income, single-mother household background, I am able to speak for many in my community from both my experiences growing up as well as express the beauty and hardships of my community’s culture and history. Being able to paint allows me to create for myself but also allows my work to connect to so many from my community. That is the beauty of being an artist, being able to express shared feelings and experiences with your community, where they can also can all take something from what you create. There is so much to learn, and from that form of inspiration and influence, I create. RECENT INTERVIEWS: OkayAfrica:  http://www.okayafrica.com/news/jamilla-okubo-textiles-paintings/#slide1 AADAT:  www.aadatart.com/interview-jamilla-okubo-on-her-cultural-background-creative-inspirations-and-favourite-things/ Portfolio Website:  www.jamillaokubo.com Blog:  www.vivaillajams.tumblr.com Shop my art prints here: http://aadatart.com/product-category/art-prints/jamilla-okubo/

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