TeenTix Blog by TeenTix

On Saturday, November 21, teens, parents, artists, and arts leaders tuned in for a YouTube viewing of the The 2020 (Virtual) Teeny Awards to celebrate the resilience and creativity of TeenTix’s 70+ Arts Partners from all corners of the region. This event marked TeenTix’s Sweet 16th Birthday and the 13th annual Teeny Awards Ceremony.

Although the audience couldn’t gather in the same space together, the excitement was palpable as attendees exclaimed and cheered in the comments section throughout the evening. Co-hosted by David Rue and Randy Ford, the dancer duo also known as Dandy, the ceremony featured musical performances from local playwright and theater superstar, Sara Porkalob, as well as teen folk artist, Mirabai Kukathas. Teens continued to take the spotlight with a reading from 2020 Youth Poet Laureate cohort member, Helena Goos, and a presentation by young artists of color from the Summer Mentorship Program in partnership with The Colorization Collective. TeenTix’s New Guard youth advisory council presented a steady stream of unique, Sweet 16-inspired awards: squishy fake cupcakes with a toy car, candle, and teen-made tag affixed to the top. Here are the results of The 2020 (Virtual) Teeny Awards:

TEENS RUN THE WORLD AWARD – for the work that best showcased the work of young artists or engaged topics related to youth: The Winner: Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, Young Americans’ Theatre Company

Join us for a FREE Arts Journalism Intensive, hosted by TeenTix in collaboration with CHOP SHOP. In this four-week series, you’ll be mentored by a professional arts journalist, interview contemporary dance artists, and write an article about one of the artists featured in the 2021 CHOP SHOP Contemporary Dance Festival. You'll learn arts journalism skills that are applicable for all genres of art. All participants will have their writing published on both the TeenTix Blog and CHOP SHOP’s website and receive a stipend for their article!

Sign up RIGHT HERE! WORKSHOP SCHEDULE:

Join us for a series of FREE online TeenTix workshops exploring how art is a powerful tool for activism and the fight for racial justice. Each workshop will focus on a different genre of art including film, music, visual and performing arts. You’ll learn about the history of social justice movements and how art has played a role in both the past and present movements.

Use the links below to sign up for individual workshops, or all three! Arts Collaboration For Social Change: Using The Visual & Performing Arts as Tools For Cultural Resistance with David Rue

We are BEYOND EXCITED to share the nominees of the 2020 (VIRTUAL) TEENY AWARDS! EVENTS AWARDS

Works must have been produced at a TeenTix Arts Partner organizations between July 2019 and June 2020.

We are thrilled to announce our very first podcast, the TeenTix Arts Podcast! A team of three Press Corps teens have been hard at work for months, (both pre and post-COVID!) to bring you this three-episode series. Stay tuned to hear "What's on TAP" as Ava, Huma, and Katherine go behind the scenes with TeenTix Partner Mirror Stage about their production, Expand Upon: Gun Control. You’ll hear from the Mirror Stage playwrights, actors, and director as we release one episode every Thursday, for the next three weeks. The podcast will be available to stream for free on TeenTix's Soundcloud and YouTube channels. Be sure to follow us on both platforms for the latest updates!

To find out more about Mirror Stage check out their website or listen to their podcast, and be sure to make your calendars for Expand Upon: Gun Control, October 3-4, and 10-11, on Zoom! Episode 1:

This year, TeenTix is offering an opportunity for teen artists to present their work in a virtual showcase at the Teeny Awards Ceremony on October 10 and 11. This is an incredible opportunity for teen musicians, dancers, visual artists, creative writers, and more to take the stage and perform for their peers and TeenTix Partner organizations.

In addition to featuring teen artists’ work at the Teeny Awards, TeenTix will showcase their art online after the event. Applications are due by Sunday, September 13. Apply here! Email [email protected] for more information.This project was supported, in part, by an award from 4Culture.

Join us for a series of FREE online TeenTix workshops exploring how art is a powerful tool for activism and the fight for racial justice. Each Summer Session will focus on a different genre of art including theater, dance, and performance art. You’ll learn about the history of social justice movements and how art has played a role in both the past and present movements.

Use the links below to sign up for individual workshops, or all three! Theater as Protest with Jasmine Mahmoud

Are you interested in creating art under the guidance of a professional mentor? Would you like to showcase your work at a local, teen-led arts event? This is the opportunity for you!

TeenTix is excited to announce its collaboration with The Colorization Collective, a teen-led organization which promote diversity in the arts, to present a Summer Arts Mentorship opportunity as part of this year’s Teeny Awards. Teen artists of color are invited to apply to the Summer Arts Mentorship to have the opportunity to workshop or create a new work with the guidance of a professional artist/mentor of color. Teens will work within a cohort of peers and receive individual feedback and guidance from their mentors over a five week period. Their artwork will then be showcased at the Teeny Awards on October 10-11, 2020. This is a great way for teens to better their craft, build connections in the arts community, and present their art! Applications are open now: APPLY HERE!

Behold the wonder of art this Summer with the following classes, workshops, and opportunities from TeenTix's Arts & Community Partners, as well as other members of the local arts community! The Residency 2020 Summer Workshop Series

This Summer Workshop Series is a FREE, one-week intensive summer music program where young people will have the opportunity to make music and learn about the music business while centering social justice issues. Participants will receive a $300 stipend, a certificate of completion signed by Macklemore and the teaching artists, and access for other year round opportunities as members of the 2020 Class.

Watch this Performance for free here.Read these before watching, to track things as you watch the dance:What moments stand out to you? Think about what movements the dancers do, or sounds that you hear that stay with you after the piece ends.Consider what it means to see black and brown dancers onstage in this piece. Dance, joy, breath, and rest can all be acts of resistance to oppression and have been used by Black people throughout history to resist white supremacy. What do you see in this piece that might be considered an act of resistance?After Watching:This piece premiered in 2018. How does it feel to watch it now in 2020, and how might it feel different or the same as in 2018?Did the piece give you a new perspective on the Black Lives Matter movement or the current protests to end police violence? If so how?What perspective did you gain?How does art help you process or experience this moment in time?How can art, or dance specifically, play a role in the fight for racial justice?

Follow-up resources: A.I.M's company website. The A.I.M for Change section on the website has a very comprehensive list of resources as well.Dancing protests in the New York Times

PHOTO CREDIT: PARKER MILES BLOHM / KNKX WHERE WE STAND:

Institutional racism and police brutality have disproportionately impacted the Black community for far too long, and we at TeenTix would like to offer the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery our deepest condolences. We would also like to acknowledge that their deaths are merely the tip of the iceberg in an institutional pattern of unarmed Black people dying at the hands of police.TeenTix is an anti-racist organization that is actively working to identify, name, and correct institutionalized racism and constructs of white supremacy within our own organization, and to help our partnered arts and culture organizations do the same. Our programs work to uplift marginalized voices in arts leadership and arts journalism, and to increase access to art.

This is the third installment of our “Keeping Cultured During Quarantine” series. Enjoy these recommendations from TeenTix Newsroom writers, New Guard members, and Press Corps teens about how to fight the collective cabin fever!Daisy

Ok, so actually, my favorite kind of art right now might not even be classified as art (but in my head it is)! My favorite kind of art right now is . . . . PEOPLE!! (People are art!) The best quarantine activity EVER is to watch people tell me things about their life (over a socially distant video call, don’t worry!), or things that happened when they were little, or anything that’s happening in their heads! Good art = stories. Stories = people. People = art!!! Seeing people that I love, even from far away, and getting to know them better, learning more about the stories-that-make-up-who-they-are, is the best quarantine art obsession I can imagine! (Also Parks & Rec.) Hana

Introducing our TeenTix GiveBIG SUPERSTAR, Hana Peoples! Hana is one of fewer than 20 people in the whole world who has donated to TeenTix during GiveBIG every year 6 years in a row! She is a TeenTix alumni who recently moved back to Seattle after graduating from UCLA with a Masters in Cinema and Media Studies. Hana is currently starting a part time internship with Telescope Film where she will be helping with their international film database. In a recent interview, we got to know Hana and hear about her arts experiences with TeenTix and beyond.

Hana was first introduced to TeenTix by a friend, and together they attended a show at Pacific Northwest Ballet. At the time, Hana went to Holy Names Academy for and always felt like she didn’t quite fit in. She enjoyed theater and dance, but didn’t want to perform. Hana (right) and her friend Lena at her last TeenTix event, PNB's The Nutcracker, in 2013.

In honor of International Dance Day, here is a collection of reviews at our Arts Partners, written exclusively by teen writers. Help us celebrate young writers, dancers, choreographers, and venues alike by reading and sharing this article with your network, and thank you to all of the dancers worldwide for sharing your art with us! TeenTix Newsroom review of "Dark Matters" via On the Boards.TV

"The piece pays homage to the Frankenstein-horror sub genre through a dramatic tale of a creator and his puppet, sprinkling in sometimes out-of-place bits of humor before diving fully into themes of manipulation and connection, which can be seen throughout the entire piece, from the loose, puppet-like motion of the dancers to the music." Click here to read the full review, written by TeenTix Newsroom Writer Lucia McLaren. Teen Reviews of the Hiplet Ballerinas at Edmonds Center for the Arts

Arts Essentials pairs young people with arts leaders for conversations that matter. Join us for a new interview every week! Arts Essentials with Sumeya & Betsey

TeenTix New Guard Member and Newsroom Writer Sumeya Block sits down with Betsey Brock, Executive Director of On the Boards for a conversation about how art has impacted their lives and how they find connection in a virtual age - all while painting their nails! Arts Essentials with Eleanor & Becs

To the Steadfast TeenTix Family,

Woah - here we are. We are living through an unprecedented and extraordinary moment for Seattle’s arts community - and the world at large. I’ve found myself starting my conversations with “are you OK?” TeenTix, our close family, friends, teens, and all of our TeenTix Partners are doing everything we can to slow the COVID-19 pandemic. Right now, we are all faced with a thousand and one decisions on how to respond, how to do more, how to do less, and how to do the right thing.

Hey TeenTixers!

We hope you’re staying safe and healthy during this uncertain time. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the social distancing measures put in place to protect public health, this is an unprecedented moment in history. We know that you may be spending a lot more time at home, and the arts are a great way to keep you grounded, and lift your spirits when times get tough. So we would love to hear how art is sustaining you right now. Whether you’re letting the creative juices flow and diving into your own art-making practice, reminiscing about a recent arts experience, or binge-ing On the Boards.TV, we want to hear from YOU. Young people are an integral part of the arts community, and by showcasing teen art and experiences we hope to show just how resilient the arts world is.

Hey TeenTixers!We hope this message finds you in good health. As you may know, Governor Jay Inslee has imposed a statewide prohibition effective 3/16/2020, on public gatherings and events of more than 50 people, out of concern over the spread of COVID-19. (Click here to read more on this).

This has directly affected the majority of our Arts Partners, cancelling many events and postponing others.

Read more below, and click this link to contribute!

Art has always been a way to build community, to connect people and ideas across all intersections of age and beliefs. TeenTix’s role is to help young people play a key part in the development of our arts community by helping them build connections through arts access right now. During these times of social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the arts community is looking for new and creative solutions to sharing art, and young people like those on The New Guard are a huge part of the answer.The New Guard: Teen Arts Leadership Society is an arts leadership training program that is the heart and soul of TeenTix, keeping us accountable to the teens we serve. New Guardians play a central role in guiding the development of TeenTix programs and events, identify organizational values and serve as the primary teen ambassadors for TeenTix while learning about all aspects of arts administration and leadership. What better real-world experience is there right now than working alongside professionals in our community to figure out how to shift strategies around upcoming events, continue fundraising during a crisis, and imagine new ways of exploring art and bonding with their peers?

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?

Youth ages 16-19 with an established desire to pursue hip-hop and music as a career must apply online and meet all criteria in order to be considered. This year’s intensive will take place at MoPOP from July 27th - August 21st. Application deadline is June 1st.