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Applications for Youth Arts program funding open, information workshop Jan. 9

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We’re accepting applications for the 2013 Youth Arts funding program. Find out more about the program at a free application workshop, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., Monday, Jan. 9 at the Beacon Hill Public Library. Application draft review sessions will be held Wednesday, Jan. 18 and Monday, Jan. 30. RSVP for the draft review sessions is required. The online application deadline is Wednesday, Feb. 15.
 
Youth Arts is an annual funding program that makes a difference in the lives of Seattle middle- and high-school youth by providing arts education in all art forms during out-of-school time. Youth Arts prioritizes youth or communities with limited or no access to the arts. Awards range up to $10,000. The upcoming funding cycle will support arts training between September 2012 and September 2013.

Application open for Youth Arts funding

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The Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs is accepting project applications for our Youth Arts program. The program supports arts training opportunities for Seattle’s middle and high school youth outside of school hours in a variety of artistic disciplines, including visual and literary arts, theater, music, dance and film.

Individual teaching artists, artist teams, arts and cultural organizations, and youth-service agencies with nonprofit status or fiscal sponsorship are eligible to apply. Youth Arts prioritizes youth or communities with limited or no access to the arts. Funding awards may range up to $10,000 for projects that will take place between September 2012 and September 2013.

“Arts training provides positive outlets, encourages creative expression and helps our young people succeed in learning and in life,” said Vincent Kitch, director of the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs. “The arts are an essential ingredient in a complete education and play an important role in developing the next generation of engaged leaders.”

The application deadline is 11 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012. For more information and to access the online application, click here.

Applicants can learn more about the Youth Arts program at an upcoming informational workshop, Monday, Jan. 9. Staff will also offer feedback on draft applications at two review sessions:  Wednesday, Jan. 18 and Monday, Jan. 30.

826 Seattle and the Young Shakespeare Workshop receive national awards

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826 Seattle, an after-school reading and writing program, and the Young Shakespeare Workshop are recipients of the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards, considered the country’s highest honor in the field of after-school and out-of-school arts and humanities programs.

The organizations are among 12 that will receive awards Nov. 2 in a White House ceremony hosted by first lady Michelle Obama, the honorary chair of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. The awards focus on programs that reach underserved children and youth and include a $10,000 prize.

The Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs’ Youth Arts program funded 826 Seattle in 2010 for a series of artist-led workshops. 826 offers both in- and out-of-school arts programs along with teacher training. Youth Arts will fund the Young Shakespeare Workshop in 2012 for a summer-long series that will offer youth instruction and rehearsal in Shakespearean theater. The Young Shakespeare Workshop also offers bilingual Shakespearean acting instruction in Spanish.

Read about the awards in today’s Seattle Times.

Check out the July eNews

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In this issue:

  • Artist Nickolus Meisel’s cloud haiku, a series of cast-bronze pillows arranged along the Seattle Streetcar’s Westlake Avenue and Seventh Avenue stop, will be dedicated 3 to 4 p.m., Friday, July 22.
  • ARTSparks continues in July at Occidental Square, where an amazing array of installations and performances have transformed the urban park into an engaging and experimental art gallery of sorts.

Image: Jennifer Dixon’s FlipBooks is an artwork composed of several sets of signs, each forming an “animated” story along Seattle’s Interurban Trail. We are currently seeking an artist for project along the Burke-Gilman Trail. Photo by Jim Tillman.

Check out our June eNews

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In this issue:

  • Our Youth Arts funding program will invest $125,000 in 34 youth programs that offer arts training outside of school hours for Seattle’s middle and high school youth.
  • Cloud Haiku by Nickolus Meisel is a series of four cast-bronze pillows arranged along the Seattle Streetcar’s Westlake Avenue and Seventh Avenue stop.
  • Head down to Pioneer Square’s Occidental Square and see Gallery (206), a phone booth repurposed to contain the work of more than 200 Seattle artists, kicking off ArtSparks.
  • Four photographers collaborate with dancers, musicians and actors to move beyond the fleeting moments of a performance to create powerful visual metaphors, on view at City Hall through July 11.

 

Image: This flag flew at the May 11 opening of Seattle as Collector: Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs Turns 40 at Seattle Art Museum. Seattle as Collector is a 40th anniversary retrospective exhibition of artworks from the Portable Works Collection. The opening drew more than 400 people. Photo by Spike Mafford.

Announcing $125,000 for youth arts training

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We’re pleased to announce our Youth Arts funding program will invest $125,000 in 34 youth programs that offer arts training outside of school hours for Seattle’s middle and high school youth.

Forty immigrant teens will produce a film, write poetry and create comic books based on their lives, thanks in part to a $3,000 award to the Filipino Community Center. With a $5,000 award, Jack Straw Foundation will engage teens with chronic and critical health needs in the creation of new audio works using accessible technology. Three Dollar Bill Cinema will receive $5,000 to lead LGBTQ youth in the production of short films expressing their identity. And 10 Rainier Beach teens will create a mosaic art installation for the Lake Washington Apartment Community Garden, the result of a $4,500 award to SouthEast Effective Development.

It’s estimated the projects will engage more than 7,200 young people in about 30,000 hours of arts training throughout the city from September 2011 to September 2012.  The funded projects were chosen by a peer-review panel from a pool of 75 eligible applicants. The average award is $3,676.

“The Youth Arts program creates pathways for young people in Seattle to succeed,” said Vincent Kitch, director of the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs. “Arts training gives young people a chance to become creative critical thinkers, to express themselves and to develop positive goals for the future while connecting with their communities and other cultures in a creative way.”

An annual funding program, Youth Arts offers awards of up to $10,000 to programs in which experienced teaching artists lead training in all arts disciplines, with priority placed on serving youth and communities with limited or no access to the arts.

Check out our February eNews

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In this issue:

Arts commission elects chair, commissioners appointed.

An assortment of textile artworks are on view at Seattle Municipal Tower through April 1,

Don’t miss the application deadline for the Youth Arts program, 11 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 15.

Three recently released reports show the economic impact on arts in the Puget Sound region and around the country.

Check out Seattle Center’s new 2011 Festivals and Events Guide.

From minimalist music to an interview with local art critic Jen Graves, Art Zone with Nancy Guppy spotlights the local arts scene.

You can now have a one-stop resource for all your arts information from the city with the new website my.seattle.gov.

Image: Mandy Greer, Mater Matrix Mother and Medium: Topography (detail), 2009, wool and synthetic yarn, plastic, fabric, glass and plastic beads, 36″ x 68″. Photo by Blake Haygood.

Check out our December eNews

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In this issue:

Message from the interim director: 2010 recap and the future.

The 2011 Youth Arts online application will open Wednesday, Dec. 15.

Tour the new West Seattle fire station and see Lifter, a new site-specific, 26-foot sculpture.

Nearly 200 supporters of equitable arts opportunities for youth attended the sixth annual Arts in Education Forum.

Come in from the cold and tap your feet to free music in December.

KING FM 98.1 will celebrate the talented youth of the Northwest who are pursuing music with the second annual Classical KING FM Ten Grands Young Artist Awards.

William Cumming, known for his brightly colored figurative artwork, died Nov. 22.

Enjoy the sights, sounds and spirit of the season at Seattle Center Winterfest.

From violin to puppets on Art Zone this month.

New affordable health insurance plan for small businesses.

Image: Students rehearse for the Pat Graney Company’s House of Mind performance. Photo by Tim Summers.

First Lady honors Wing Luke YouthCAN program

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First Lady Michelle Obama presented the 2010 National Arts & Humanities Youth Program Awards yesterday at a formal ceremony at the White House. The Wing Luke Museum’s YouthCAN Program was among the recipients – one of only 15 programs across the country to receive this award, the nation’s highest honor for after school arts and humanities programs.  

YouthCAN is a community-based leadership program for Asian Pacific American youth (ages 15-19) that works to connect youth with and take pride in their heritage. Through our High School Exhibits Contest, Summer Cultural Arts Experience, and Ambassador Program, APA youth learn how to use advocacy, arts, and cultural programming to take action on issues that affect the APA community. The program received the a 2011 Youth Arts award from the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs.

Wing Luke Museum staff Joshua Heim (a former “Get Engaged” Commissioner on the Seattle Arts Commission) and two youth received the formal award at the White House. Click here to watch a video of the ceremony.

Formerly known as “Coming Up Taller,” the 2010 National Arts & Humanities Youth Program Awards focus national attention on outstanding programs across the country that promote the creativity of America’s young people, providing them learning opportunities and the chance to contribute to their communities. The awards reward these projects with recognition, a cash award, and organizational and capacity building support over the course of the year.

Congratulations to the Wing Luke Museum and the YouthCAN program for this honor!

Arts training an investment in our youth

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Posted by Director Michael Killoren

The arts are a powerful tool for inspiring our young people. Arts training encourages creative thinking and instills self-confidence – important ingredients for cultivating Seattle’s next generation of engaged citizens.

For this reason, I’m pleased to announce the City will invest $200,000 to help fund 31 diverse arts training projects for middle and high school youth. The grants are part of the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs’ annual Youth Arts program, which provides training outside of school hours for Seattle’s middle and high school students. Priority is placed on serving youth and communities with little or no access to the arts.

With an average award of $6,452, it’s estimated the projects will engage nearly 5,000 young people in 24,000 hours of arts training throughout the city from September 2010 to September 2011.

The dollars will reach deep into our community. A group of youth will organize community participation in a summer mural project to revitalize their neighborhood, thanks in part to an $8,000 grant awarded to El Centro de La Raza. A $3,824 grant will help expose three dozen Native-American youth to Haida tribal traditions, including lessons in carving a canoe at the Center for Wooden Boats.

With a $4,800 award, Spectrum Dance Theater will engage teens in a dance residency linking Zimbabwean history and dance tradition to hip-hop choreography and spoken word. Arts Corps will receive $8,000 to engage hundreds of young people in a variety of art forms, including the performing, visual and literary arts. This is just a sampling of the funded projects, for a complete list click here.

The Youth Arts program speaks to the spirit of Mayor Mike McGinn’s Youth and Families Initiative, which aims to create pathways for all young people in Seattle to succeed. Art provides our youth with positive outlets, helps them excel in learning and life and offers them a vehicle to connect with their communities and other cultures in a creative way.

As May is Arts Education month, I’m especially pleased to announce the City’s investment in arts training. Recently, the Mayor issued a  proclamation observing the month and celebrating the contributions of arts educators.

Working together, we can ensure every student has access to a quality education and life experiences that include the arts.