Jennifer Abssy
Inner-City Arts is now in its 25th year of offering high quality arts experiences to youth. Our programs include professional development for teachers, schools and university programs, school day arts programming for K-8, and out of school programming for grades 6th grade and above. These Middle and High School Institute programs have grown from offering 5 art forms for 120 students in 2009 to today offering 15 to 22 workshops three times a year, to 600-800 urban youth. Here is what some of our Institute youth say about our programming:
“They don’t judge you here… I can be my own person.” Angelica G.
“I can count on so many people here.” Sandy A.
“These people can benefit me a lot.” Gabriel U.
“I feel loved…” Michael M.
Youth in our Institutes engage in high quality arts experiences in multiple forms such as Graphic Design, Visual Arts, Ceramics, Dance and Choreography, Acting, Spoken Word, Stand-up Comedy, Animation, Digital Photography, Guitar and Documentary Film – all located on our state of the art campus in downtown Los Angeles, near Skid Row. They come to us by foot, bus, scooter, bike or via parents, in groups or individually. Our studios are a cross-section of LA communities, from Boyle Heights to Pomona, from South LA to the Valley. If you don’t know Los Angeles, that’s a 20-30 mile radius in a city not exactly known for its transit system (it’s great, by the way).
What prompts youth to say such wonderful things about Inner-City Arts? I’m going to say something shocking: it’s not about the arts.
It’s about commitment. Our programs may be free monetarily but youth do pay: with their time and with their engagement. We emphasize that when they sign up they are making a promise to a part of themselves they want to develop, whether it’s just for fun or for their future. Commitment is a powerful tool for making ones’ dreams come true. All admin and infrastructure is intended to support our students in making choices, showing up and seeing it through to the end. The minute they step through our gate, staff is there to greet them warmly. Someone is also there to say good-bye. We work to make registering easy and accessible. We strive for follow-through and accuracy in all our administration and interactions with youth and families.
It’s about communication. And when they don’t show up, they get a call or text that says, “Where are you? We miss you! Are you coming? Why not? Are you ok?” We are striving to create a culture of communication, another powerful tool for living. You can get a lot of what you want through the appropriate communication. Most of all, we want youth to know we see them and when they are not around, a part of our family is missing and we care.
It’s about participation. All classes end in some sort of culmination, whether it’s an informal pizza party or a full-on performance. It’s about finishing what you start and mostly it’s about that rich learning that happens in the final moments of preparing to put it all out there. In those moments, the youth have to muster up the inner resolve to get past the nerves, the self-consciousness and whatever else is happening in their lives, to deliver to the best of one’s abilities. Our culminations strive to have everyone, audience included, feel like they have accomplished something by participating. Conversations about process over product, youth speaking about what they learned and food: all of these elements go into a public celebration of participation, another tool for having a life worth living.
It’s about life: their life. It’s more than drawing; it’s about developing presence of mind and understanding one’s own perspective. It’s more than stand-up comedy; it’s about finding what you have to say and saying it so people can hear it. It’s beyond learning guitar; it’s about listening and experiencing how practice can yield results; it’s about perseverance. These are not arts skills, they are life skills.
And all of this learning occurs with our teaching artists, who guide our youth as they explore the frontier of their creative expression. They were hired because of their capacity to draw out young people’s true voice within the context of the art form. These mentors give youth space and structure to explore their identity, their perspective, and their selves.
I’ve learned that hiring people who understand and embody your mission is key. Part of my charge as an administrator is to continually strive to provide the environment and infrastructure that these artists need to do their job with our youth…and then get out of the way!
It’s more than a feeling. Maya Angelou said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” In creative youth development, when we create an environment that communicates viscerally to youth that they are seen, heard and celebrated, they feel good. We know we’re doing our job when students like Michael M. say:
“I feel like I’m home.”
