TeenTix Blog

On Sunday, October 9th, arts leaders and teenage arts enthusiasts gathered at Benaroya Hall to celebrate the 9th annual Teeny Awards, hosted by local performer/composer Celene Ramadan and members of the Young Americans’ Theatre Company, with performances by ParisAlexa and Seattle JazzED.

The Teeny Awards, presented annually by The New Guard, TeenTix’s teen governing body, celebrate the best in local arts and culture according to teenage art enthusiasts. Awardees are chosen by the New Guard based on votes by the TeenTix membership. Last year, The New Guard created a new category: Youth Arts Advocate of the Year. Teens are nominated by their peers for this award, which aims to honor teens who advocate for arts in their schools, instigate arts outings, and inspire their peers to participate in the community. The nominees for Youth Arts Advocate of the Year were Sarah Baker, Noah Sarkowsky, Analiese Guettinger, and Ana Walker. Baker took home the award, presented by Lara Davis, Arts Education Manager at the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. Sarah is currently a Junior at Juanita High School, has been a part of the Juanita Drama community for three years. She is an avid lover of the arts but particularly enjoys frequenting Seattle-area theatre. Sara is passionate about the opportunity TeenTix provides and works to spread the word throughout her school and community. Her various projects include maintaining a bulletin board since 2014, creating flyers and telling anyone who will listen to explore the TeenTix program. She is expanding this year in her TeenTix committee, launching an awareness campaign to provide Juanita students with the chance to experience the arts. Sarah’s nominator says: “Sarah is an amazing arts advocate at our school! She created a TeenTix bulletin board with a calendar that she draws by hand every month showing what's coming up on TeenTix as well as descriptions of the shows. She has review cards for people to fill out and discuss shows they loved that they saw through TeenTix. She keeps the board constantly updated and really encourages people to step outside of their comfort zone and see shows. Even people not in drama sign up! She works hard at keeping the board looking beautiful and accessible to everyone at our school. She has done an all-around wonderful job of advocating arts and encouraging our student body to take advantage of the arts opportunities all around us!”

Today we are so thrilled to share that Monique Courcy will join us in October as our new Executive Director!

Monique grew up in the Yakima valley before earning a BFA in Dance from the University of Washington and an MFA in Arts Leadership from Seattle University. She has spent the last six years working at TeenTix partner organization On the Boards, where she manages Digital Media and OntheBoards.tv, a pioneering project that makes high-definition recordings of contemporary performances accessible to an international audience through streaming and downloads. In this role, Monique has expanded the program’s national reach, producing films and developing a video-on-demand platform that now reaches thousands of students at over 100 universities across the globe. OntheBoards.tv has been profiled in the New York Times, and is the winner of a 2015 Arts Entrepreneur Award from Fractured Atlas.

Throughout my years in both middle and high school, I have tried to discover my various passions, my favorite subjects, all in search for a dream I wanted to pursue (that will earn me the most money).

During this time of constant change, I have kept one thing exactly the same: music.

Even in the category of those with a proclivity towards the arts, every young person that decides to sign up for TeenTix has a different experience.

Of course, I’m biased. I’m a TeenTix devotee.

You are invited to the 2016 Teeny Awards

A party for the future Sunday, October 9th Benaroya Hall

TICKETS ON SALE NOW! Can't attend but would like to make a donation in support of TeenTix? Thank you! Click here to be taken to our donation page. (Be sure to click 'designate my donation to a specific fund' and choose TeenTix.) CEREMONY

The annual Teeny Awards celebrate the best in our region's arts and culture according to teens. Come and help us elevate and celebrate young people's contributions to keeping our arts community healthy and strong for decades to come. Plus, there will be cupcakes! Tickets to the ceremony are just $5 for teens, and $20 for everybody else. Don't miss the red carpet & fabulous prizes! DINNER

Hello TeenTix family! I have some news to share. Earlier this afternoon, the board of TeenTix announced that I have decided to step down as Executive Director of TeenTix and given them my notice. October 28th will be my last day here.

I love TeenTix. Doing the work of elevating teens' voices in the arts community for the last decade has been more rewarding than I could have imagined. If you have the opportunity in your lives to do work that you believe in, that makes the world little bit better, and that puts you in contact with excellent people, I highly recommend it. The most rewarding part has been watching our members leave us and go off and become even more amazing adults than they were teens--which is really saying something, because TeenTix teens are basically the greatest.

Are you interested in leadership? Are you highly opinionated? Want to learn about yourself and the world through art?

YOU can help make SAM fun and engaging for teens when you join Teen Arts Group (TAG)!

Do you want to laugh and make people laugh? Unexpected Productions has the goods! Take a look at their class offerings this summer:

Intro To Hip Hop Improv with North Coast | more info June 13, 2016 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM, w/ a show at 9:00 PM New York City’s premier hip-hop improv comedy team, North Coast, is a unique collaboration of improvisational comedy, hip hop, beatboxing, and music. This musical improv workshop will get even the most beginner performers comfortable and confident with freestyle rapping and will teach you how to really drill into the deal of your scene and its’ characters. Learn how to set yourself up, find your flow, and weave your rapped verses in and out of your improv scene-work.

The Things Are Against Us is a trip on the dark side of the alley when the shadows seem to move behind you. Equal parts hilarious and terrifying, this play is a story of sisterly love that leaves viewers on an emotional roller coaster, and ultimately, not sure how they’re feeling. The play blends old descriptive language with modern verbiage seamlessly in the world playwright Susan Soon He Stanton creates. Having written the play while living next to the Edward Gorey Estate, the play delves into a sense of horrifying normality where things that would normally require hours of background are addressed in a staccato fashion establishing them as ordinary and acceptable.

Though at times hard to follow, the play never loses interest. Seemingly “un-producible,” Washington Ensemble Theater brings to life the story of Solange and her sister Tessa with a beautifully and wondrously constructed set and intense and compelling on-stage relationships.

Do you care about keeping art accessible for young people? Come and work with us!

QUALIFICATIONS You must be: 16 or older, and able to get to Seattle Center Available 10-15 hours per week during regular business hours (M-F, 9am-6pm) Smart, motivated, responsible, and enthusiastic Willing to conduct monotonous tasks with a smile Passionate about making art accessible for young people

One of our community partners, Foundry10, is hosting a hip hop dance competition later this month!

The words “let go,” sends five girls, ages nine and ten, into a surreal routine. What must be meticulously choreographed, seems somehow loose and reminiscent. One girl dances as if completely alone, twirling and waving her arms gracefully. The others run back and forth across the tiny stage, arms locked, unified as one. They trade giggles and grins as they jostle up and down. This scene is beautiful.

Besides the laughter, the only sounds are the slapping of bare feet on the stage floor, like rain on thick windowpane. Rows of tulips, or the gentle sway of a willow branch in the wind. A robin crossing my vision, alighting and settling. The acting is pure: intentionally unintentional. At its best, Employee of the Year achieves the delicate beauty of nature itself.

All we see on stage when we go to see a play are the actors and the set pieces. We notice the lights and sound, and maybe the tech crew, but there are so many parts to running a fully-functioning theater that people may not realize. I considered myself pretty knowledgeable about all things theater, but I still had a lot to learn on my mini-mentorship with Robert Hankin, the Associate Director of Development at ACT Theatre. He was a great person to have as a guide and mentor for the day because he said he has had nine different positions in his nine years at ACT!

I was surprised by the dozens and dozens of people who work behind the scenes to make everything run smoothly. A few departments I can rattle off: Development (a.k.a. fundraising), Sales, Marketing, Graphic Design, Casting, Costuming, Set Design, Tech Design, Outreach, Front-of-House, Executive Team, Artistic Team, and more! I remember meeting one person in the elevator who's only job was to paint things. In a large-scale theater like ACT, so many different moving pieces have to work together cohesively. What mattered was that everyone cared about what they were doing and enjoyed putting in the effort to create amazing theater.

Wanna get acquainted with the TeenTix community? There's no better way than to attend one of our ~special events~ produced in cooperation with our partner organizations. The best part about seeing one of these shows? Proceeds from the tickets you purchase always support TeenTix and our mission to ensure equitable access to the arts for all young people. Ready, set, GO get some art!

DANCE

On Wednesday, April 9th, representatives of TeenTix partner organizations, supporters, and other friends gathered at the Nesholm Family Lecture Hall at Benaroya Hall for the First Annual TeenTix Partner Meet-Up. The Meet-Up closed with a half-hour-long panel where members of The New Guard, TeenTix's Teen Arts Leadership Society, talked about their experiences as avid arts-goers, and answered questions from the audience.

Our panelists jotted down their thoughts after the panel, and we provide them here for anyone who is interested in a glimpse into the world of an arts-going teen. Enjoy! Our panelists:

The Arts & Culture Coalition of Pierce County and the City of Tacoma are working with us in hopes of bringing TeenTix to The 253! The most important part of this feasibility study is hearing from YOU. We want to know if/how the arts fit into your life now, and if/how that could change if TeenTix was introduced to your home turf.

If you're a teen that lives in Pierce County, please take this survey that'll ask about your arts-going habits, hopes, and desires!

Looking to step up your media skills this Spring? You've come to the very specific, totally right place. Reel Grrls is offering TWO short classes in April that YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT.

Bellevue Arts Museum and the Teen Arts Council are pleased to present an exhibition showcasing young artists in the Puget Sound area. Local artists under the age of 20 may apply to have their artwork featured in the 20 Under 20 Exhibition, which will be on view in BAM's Community Education Gallery from June 3 to October 9.

This exhibition is designed to feature youth ages 13 – 19 as emerging artists, and is juried by the Teen Arts Council in collaboration with Bellevue Arts Museum curators. This exhibition is an exciting opportunity to display work in a public and professional space, and will showcase a range of artistic media highlighting some of the best talent of the next generation of artists and craftspeople.