Events in all Five Boroughs

Join teens at Ghetto Film School for a screening and discussion of Be Free, directed by Ghetto Film School Student Enrique Caballero. Set in 1937 British Palestine Mandate, Be Free follows an orphan teen as he is quickly forced to examine his own moral compass when he risks his life to save a young girl. Filmed on location in Jerusalem. Snacks will be provided at the event.

How do we write and think about our very own language and our native tongues? Can we find new ways to write across a page? Create your own poems and offer your own alternatives that center on the importance and benefits of preserving your own vernaculars.

Writers must RSVP to attend.

Join the Mark Morris Dance Group’s Arts Immersion students outdoors for an all-levels contemporary dance class that includes a chance to create your own choreography! Participants need no experience to join. Class will take place at the Mark Morris Dance Center at 3 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217.

This weekly youth open mic is free and uncensored, and all genres (poets, singers, emcees, acoustic artists) are welcome to share their “first draft,” something they’re working on, just created/wrote, or want to polish. Don’t miss this special edition of First Draft in celebration of Teen Arts Week!

Join us for a night of social justice & art at TEEN IMPACT hosted by our Teen Arts & Activism Intern Ruby Noboa. THE POINT Teen Programs come together to demonstrate how we tackle environmental and social justice issues through the arts. Attendees will sign up for up to two workshops in the following areas: Visual Arts, Circus Arts, Theater & Writing. Learn to articulate your concerns through the arts with Cirque du Vie, Open Hydrant Theater Company & our Teaching Artists in Residence. We will be offering some conscious catering and close out the night with a party from 7-8:30 pm.

In this movement jam, participants will explore dance techniques of the ground-breaking performance ensemble Urban Bush Women. Close attention will be paid to the use of breath, weight, call and response, and polyrhythm. Urban Bush Women embraces the idea that everyone has a unique contribution to make and that our bodies are powerful and capable. No prior dance experience is needed.

Designed by fellows in 92Y’s Teen Producers program, the Youth Summit will explore the theme Art for Action through performances and discussion, and help teens identify pathways to careers in the arts. Featured presenters include spoken word poet Mahogany L. Browne, internationally acclaimed visual artist Firelei Báez and award-winning social justice theatre company Epic Theatre Ensemble. The program will culminate in a teen-moderated conversation with artists and elected officials focused on advocacy for paid jobs in the arts industry for teens. Giveaways and prizes will be distributed!

The Studio Museum in Harlem’s Teen Leadership Council invites you to join us in Harlem as we make old clothes new again with special guest stylist Becky Akinyode. This special edition of Studio Works is presented in collaboration with Teen Arts Week. RSVP required. T-shirts will be provided, but please be sure to bring clothes you want to revamp. Light refreshments will be served. This program is accessible with elevator.

Ghetto Film School will host a filmmaking workshop led by GFS teens and young film professionals in GFS’s Roster program. Teens will use the GFS production studio for a hands-on workshop on camera, lighting and audio recording. Snacks will be provided at the event.

Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky brings this lost classic to life with a bold new staging, inspired by the archival notes of Marius Petipa. Revel in pure comedic joy as Harlequin fights for his true love, Columbine, against her father who plans to marry her to a wealthy suitor.

Join artist Claire Christerson for an art-making workshop exploring the connection between text and collaborative drawing. Participants will look into the oftentimes private world of journals, diaries, and text messages—things that we write for ourselves and small groups of friends and close confidants. Then, using a variety of different art materials and techniques, these private writings will be transformed into vibrant and expressive works of collaborative art. No previous art experience is required.

Students will engage in an interactive tour of Japan Society’s current exhibition, Radicalism in the Wilderness: Japanese Global Artists in the 1960s, exploring how Japanese artists in the 1960s responded to the social, political and cultural issues of the decade. Students will consider how these artists expanded the definition of “visual art” through performance, mail art, land art, and political art. Afterwards, drawing on their experience, students will create Mail Art with a contemporary message of their own in a workshop that combines personal creativity with conviction! Japan Society is pleased to offer two workshops: The first workshop will take place from 4:30-5:45 pm; the second will take place from 5:45-7 pm. Please use the Other Comments section of the RSVP Form to let us know whether you will attend the first or second workshop.

Voices of a People’s History of the United States seeks to educate and inspire a new generation working for social justice. This free performance marks the culmination of a year-long project with New York City AP U.S. History students at The Maxine Greene High School for Imaginative Inquiry, cofounded by Lincoln Center Education, inspired by Howard Zinn’s Voices of a People’s History of the United States. After studying the speeches, letters, and songs of the remarkable people who inspired Zinn’s seminal 2004 book, the students will perform their selections along with special guest singer J. Hoard and others to be announced.

Grab your friends and get creative! New York City teens are invited to a free drop-in art making program at the Whitney. Bring your works-in-progress or create something new. All supplies are provided and no previous art

Teens are invited to take an Introductory Ballet Class at Dance Theatre of Harlem. Come and learn the basics of ballet! Get ready to s-t-r-e-t-c-h, pointe your toes, plié and chassé! If you do not have ballet attire that is okay, just dress comfortably for movement!

Teens are invited to come out and meet professional DJs and producers, get hands on experience using turntables and DJ controllers, and have a chance to get on the mic for our Open Cypher.

ARTE invites teens to engage in an interactive workshop focusing on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the world’s most important human rights document, celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. Teens will explore the background and history of the UDHR and have the opportunity to create art focused on human rights.

Dancing Into the Future is a choreographic laboratory that allows young people—with limited or no dance background—to find a confident, innovative and collaborative artistic voice. As part of the program, BAM selects guest artists to teach a workshop to the students (grades 9-12), with the goal of providing a holistic perspective and experience of movement, artistic process, and choreography/choreographic tools.

Go behind the scenes with Mark Morris Dance Group’s Student Company at their Open Dress Rehearsal. In a talk-back following the performance, teens will have the opportunity to ask the student performers questions about their work. The performance will be held in the James & Martha Duffy Performance Space at the Mark Morris Dance Center.

Teens will learn about career opportunities in media fields and participate in hands-on activities in media-making, including video and podcasting. The event will feature a panel of media professionals who will discuss their personal career pathways and answer questions about how to prepare for media careers.

Teens are invited to visit the New-York Historical Society’s Tech Commons, an interative space for teens to learn about and experiment with the museum’s equipment. Record a podcast or song, 3D-scan an artifact, design and code a website, or just hang out and explore. Tech instructors will be hosting the space and showing off everything the Tech Commons can do!

BkM’s Teen Night will explore the texture and feeling of art through photography and assemblage, posing the question, “What’s your creative language?” Teens will experience artmaking, music, performances, gallery activities, great conversations, community building, raffles and more. The evening is inspired by two exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum—Eric N. Mack: Lemme walk across the room and Liz Johnson Artur: Dusha. Snacks will be served!

Teens are invited to attend the opening of an art exhibition featuring work by students in CAE’s Spring 2019 Career Development Program. Teens will have the opportunity to speak with the featured student artists and learn about careers in the arts. The event will feature musical performances and monologues performed by CAE students. Teens are welcome to attend some or all of the event. Snacks will be served!

Spend the evening popping, flying and falling with STREB Extreme Action Company Dancers! Learn POP ACTION, flying trapeze, tightrope, aerial and circus arts!

Teens are invited to attend a dance performance by Edgar Cortes Dance Theater and Farideh Sakhaeifar & Isabel Umali. The performance is part of TAKE ROOT, a monthly curated dance series featuring established and emerging choreographers in a paired evening of work.

Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning invites teens to curate their own day of artistic exploration through a series of workshops in dance, drama, music and visual art. Teens can attend multiple workshops between the hours of 10 am to 3 pm. No prior experience needed.

Ceramics: 11 am-12 pm
Voice: 12-1 pm
Hip Hop for Teens: 12-1 pm
Dance Expressions / Modern Dance: 1-2 pm
Intermediate Acting: 1-2 pm
Art Studio (Drawing and Painting): 2-3 pm
Broadway at JCAL: 2-3 pm

Studio 57 is an open, teen-driven space that includes opportunities to join an artistic community of peers, work side-by-side with professional musicians, and participate in monthly concerts. Join this special edition of Studio 57 in celebration of Teen Arts Week.

Join a photo scavenger hunt at the Bronx Documentary Center! Led by the BDC’s own teen photographers, teams will be tasked to photograph a variety of places, objects, and themes. The scavenger hunt will be followed by an award ceremony and photo share-back and hangout at the BDC. Cameras will be provided.

Dreamfest is intended to be an equitable, inclusive and interactive performance space / vendor marketplace that supports the endeavors and businesses of various black and brown owned business across the Bronx community. Performances will consist of student poets, theater pieces, interactive performances, musicians and fashion designers all coming from various DreamYard programs.

It’s Showtime at the Apollo! Join us for a special half-day seminar focused on youth (ages 15 to 21) who are interested in technical stage production and the performing arts. In this exciting seminar, aspiring performing artists and production technicians will have the opportunity to study under Apollo professionals as they learn the process of mounting a live production and acquire skills necessary for success in the arts and entertainment industry.

Teens are invited to a screening of the short film ‘63 Boycott, followed by a filmmaking workshop. ‘63 Boycott connects the forgotten story of one of the largest northern civil rights demonstrations to contemporary issues around race, education, and youth activism. The film combines image and video in collage to contextualize patterns in history, an approach to filmmaking that teens will explore in the on-site workshop.

Teens are invited to create a collaborative art piece inspired by the exhibition Mundos Alternos: Art and Science Fiction in the Americas, on display at the Queens Museum from Apr 7-Aug 18, 2019. The collaborative art piece will explore issues of immigration, borders, global citizenship, aliens and alternate worlds.

Unleash your creativity and experiment with materials in unexpected ways during this art-making workshop in the galleries and studios inspired by the Art of Native America. This event is presented in collaboration with the National Museum of the American Indian. Materials are provided.

Teens are invited to share poetry, perform music and speak their minds at the Queens Museum’s Open Mic in celebration of Teen Arts Week.

Students participate in an inquiry-based guided tour of the ICP Museum exhibitions Your Mirror: Portraits from the ICP Collection & For Freedoms: Where Do We Go From Here? Led by Museum Educators, this guided tour will encourage students to discover visual information, realize multiple interpretations and meaning, and make connections to classroom content. Following the guided tour, students participate in a hands-on photography workshop, using images from the ICP Museum as a point of inspiration for their own imagemaking. Students are introduced to concepts in photography, learn to use Fuji Instax cameras, and make instant photographs in partners focusing on a pre-selected theme. Each student walks away with two images.

Artist Tattfoo Tan will lead teens on a private tour of his exhibition Heal the Man in order to Heal the Land, which explores how spirituality manifests itself in the connections between internal experience and the material world. As part of the event, teens will create a group mandala, a symbol for peace and unity used in meditation. Teens are asked to bring an item of personal significance (one they are comfortable displaying publicly and will take home at the end of the event) to contribute to the mandala.

Irondale’s high school ensemble, Young Company, will lead an introductory workshop in the art of improvisation. Teens will share some of their favorite improv games, build characters, and explore scene work. The session will end with an introduction to the art of Soundpainting.

Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning will host a special College Access Workshop, where students will learn how to use the arts to enhance their college applications. The workshop will help teens create a college list, explore financial aid options and dispel myths about the application process.

Jade Charon, recipient of the Chuck Davis Emerging Choreographer Fellowship in 2018, will lead a dance intensive workshop that allows the community to experience the Kony and N’Dep dance styles from Senegal and Burkina Faso. The class will end with a viewing of her short films on her experience in Africa as a 2018 Chuck Davis Emerging Choreographer Fellow, followed by a talk back with the artist. Presented in conjunction with Teen Arts Week, the event is geared toward ages 14-19, though people of all ages are welcome. Open to all levels of dance experience (beginner-advanced).

Teens are invited to attend a dance performance by Edgar Cortes Dance Theater and Farideh Sakhaeifar & Isabel Umali. The performance is part of TAKE ROOT, a monthly curated dance series featuring established and emerging choreographers in a paired evening of work.

During this special drop-in program for high school students, Guggenheim Teen Volunteers will lead their peers in an afternoon of art-making activities. Participants will have a chance to visit the Guggenheim on their own and create art at our drop-in studio program using prompts specially selected by Guggenheim Teens. Registration includes museum admission.

Fertile Ground is a monthly new works series for emerging choreographers and experimenting, established professionals. Five to six artists present a work-in-progress and receive audience-driven feedback in a post-performance discussion moderated by Artistic Director Valerie Green.

Jade Charon, recipient of the Chuck Davis Emerging Choreographer Fellowship in 2018, will perform work inspired by the Kony and N’Dep dance styles from Senegal and Burkina Faso, fused with multiple dance forms and multimedia to explore communal healing. The performance will be followed by a talk back with the artist.