The oldest high school for African American students west of the Mississippi, Sumner High School remains a vital part of the Ville neighborhood today.
The Sumner StudioLab is a collaboration between the Sumner Advisory Board, 4theVille, and Washington University in St. Louis’s Center for the Humanities and the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.
Programming at the StudioLab builds upon the robust Sumner Recovery Plan initiatives. After being invited to collaborate, organizers first submitted a proposal that was reviewed and approved by the Sumner Recovery Board before launching the Sumner StudioLab in Summer 2022. The project is supported by seed funding from the Mellon Foundation via the Divided City initiative as well as the Here & Next initiative at Washington University in St. Louis.
The Sumner StudioLab brings together Sumner High students, WashU students, and Ville residents in a Community Hub to discuss and design Sumner’s historic legacies and promising futures.
The StudioLab will run through the academic year 2025-2026 and include public workshops, student internships, listening sessions, and academic courses. The overall goal of the Sumner StudioLab is to deepen understandings of Sumner High School as a physical and cultural site through a shared focus on historic preservation and neighborhood community.
STUDIOLAB TEAM:
Co-organizers:
- Matthew Bernstine, Associate Director, Office of Socially Engaged Practice (Sam Fox School)
- Laura Perry, Assistant Director for Research and Public Engagement (Center for the Humanities)
Fellows:
- Crystal Payne, 2022-2024 Graduate Fellow in Community Engagement (Humanities)
- Arielle Roybal, 2024 Undergraduate Fellow for Sumner Internship Program
- Shameen Akhtar, 2022-2023 Graduate Fellow in Community Engagement (Sam Fox School)
Courses:
- Michael Allen, Senior Lecturer (Sam Fox School), Fall 2022 – Spring 2024
- Abraham Diaz, Teaching Assistant (Sam Fox School), Spring 2023
- Clark Randall, Teaching Assistant (Sociology PhD), Fall 2022
STUDIOLAB PARTNERS:
- Aaron Williams, 4theVille
COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE:
- Nicole Dotson, St. Louis Development Corporation
- Angela Drake, Ville Collaborative
- Stacey Fowler, St. Louis Development Corporation
- Celeste Grayer, Sumner High School
- Vontriece McDowell, InvestSTL
- CJ Mitchell, arts educator
- Pastor Charles Norris, St. James AME
- Aaron Williams, 4theVille
Sumner StudioLab 