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In case you missed it, the TeenTix Press Corps is back in action! We’ve had a busy relaunch this spring—we held two Arts Criticism 101 workshops at Franklin High School and Cleveland High School, and held a 5-week intensive arts-writing course called Adventures in Contemporary American Culture. Read on for the full updates on each workshop! ARTS CRITICISM 101

Franklin High School Our workshop covered the basics of arts criticism for visual and performing arts. Teaching artist and visual arts critic Gayle Clemans led the class on a field trip to The Frye Art Museum where we reviewed the Tavares Strachan and Ko Kirk Yamahira exhibits. Melody Datz Hansen, a performance critic and teaching artist, taught us about the three most important questions in arts criticism. We watched some Hamilton clips, sampled Pina Bausch and the Royal Ballet, and wrote reviews of a film on OntheBoards.tv.

You can read Gayle’s writing for the Seattle Times HERE. You can read Melody’s writing for the Seattle Times HERE and for City Arts HERE.

Cleveland High School We hosted a discussion of the play Familiar at Seattle Rep with several classes at Cleveland. Hatlo—a theater artist, playwright, and Press Corps teaching artist—guided students through a critical discussion of the play and strategized ways to incorporate opinion and evaluation into reviews. Stay tuned on the blog for student reviews of Familiar coming soon!

You can learn more about Hatlo’s work HERE.

If you're interested in bringing the Arts Criticism 101 workshop to your school or group of teens, email Mariko, TeenTix Press Corps Manager: mariko@teentix.org.

ADVENTURES IN CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN CULTURE

This workshop was an intensive, crash course in arts criticism. Over five weeks, eight teens worked with three professional arts critics, to experience and write reviews of five different art events. Teens reviewed each art event they saw and then met to discuss the art, edit their reviews, and receive feedback on their writing from their peers and the teaching artists. Discussion topics included the four elements of criticism, critical inference, rhetoric, how to structure a review, and an in-depth look at the elements of each particular art form we experienced.

Over the course of five weeks we saw two theater and one dance performance at On the Boards, a film at the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, and the “Figuring History” exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum.

Huge thank yous to these awesome TeenTix Arts Partners for hosting the Press Corps! And many thanks to the teaching artists involved: Gayle Clemans (visual arts critic), Kathy Fennessy (film critic), and Omar Willey (performance critic).

Read the Press Corps’ reviews here:

Reviews of Patti & the Kid at On the Boards: Expect the Unexpected by Emily B. Carpets Are Unrolled. Nerf Guns Are Shot. by Anya S. La Vie de Magnifique du Charlie at Langston Hughes African American Film Festival La Vie Magnifique de Charlie, le Film Très Magnifique by Jessie B. Reviews of Black Bois at On the Boards Rarely Shown Complexities of Black Men by Jocelyn A. Individuality and Uniqueness by Mayyadah Z. “Figuring History” at SAM Strategically Highlighted in Glitter by Lily W. Forgotten Black Brilliance by Will S.

JACK & at On the Boards Confusing in All the Right Ways by Juneaux L. Stay tuned on the blog for updates about the next intensive workshop!

You can read Omar’s writing for the Seattle Star HERE. You can read Gayle’s writing for the Seattle Times HERE. You can read Kathy’s writing for The Stranger HERE.

A big thanks to the following organizations for their support of The TeenTix Press Corps!

If you love arts criticism and want to see this program soar—consider donating now to TeenTix or email us to discuss how your gift can make an impact on the Press Corps.

Hey, young aspiring improvisers: there are TWO really exciting and TOTALLY FREE opportunities coming up from Unexpected Productions, just for TeenTix Members!

TEENTIX MEMBERS: Tell us how we can make TeenTix better, describe your arts-going habits, and make your voice HEARD when you fill out our 2018 TeenTix Member Survey! It takes about 15-20 minutes to complete, and we hope you'll take the time to add your feedback.

Each TeenTix member (aged 13 - 19) that fills out the survey is entered to win a ~grand prize~ of FREE tickets to each of the following: ACT Theatre, The Wing Luke Museum, NW African American Museum, ComedySportz Seattle, and the Space Needle. Just fill out your information at the end of the survey so we can contact you if you win!

It's ANOTHER GiveBIG SUPERSTAR highlight: Thomas Van Doren!

What’s a TeenTix GiveBIG SUPERSTAR? A SUPERSTAR is a devoted TeenTix supporter who can't get enough of the crazy GiveBIG energy. Every GiveBIG SUPERSTAR exceeds our exceptations year after year. Thomas is not only a TeenTix Board member and a lead volunteer helping us with our Teens Count project - he's also given to GiveBIG for the last 2 years.

As GiveBIG 2018 draws nigh, we’re so excited to highlight a very special GiveBIG SUPERSTAR: Erica Hudson-Gomez!

What’s a TeenTix GiveBIG SUPERSTAR? A SUPERSTAR is a devoted TeenTix supporter. We often suspect that these humans have actual superpowers. Erica is no exception, having served on TeenTix’s Advisory Council since 2016, helping TeenTix do important work for Teens Count!

Are you passionate about youth arts access? Do you organize artsy outings with your friends? Are you in the know about Seattle's arts scene and want to explore even more? This application is FOR YOU.

The New Guard: Teen Arts Leadership Society is formally an arts leadership training program, but really this group is the heart and soul of TeenTix. 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.

Are you a TeenTix superfan? Do you want to get an inside look behind the scenes of what we do and make arts access happen for teens across Washington state? THIS IS YOUR CHANCE. Peruse our positions below and apply today!

If you love fun, laughing, and building skills in public speaking & self-confidence--this class is for you! Our longtime Arts Partner Unexpected Productions is very generously offering TeenTix members the opportunity to take Teen Improv 101: Dynamic YouthProv! for FREE.

Learn more about this class and apply now! Applications will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Being a TeenTix member has all SORTS of benefits: $5 tickets to the arts, exclusive arts events, snacks, and now this! Seattle Public Theater and 14/48: The World's Quickest Theater Festival are teaming up to bring you this Winter Break Camp. TeenTix members are encouraged to apply here to snag a FREE spot in this camp. Don't wait! Spots are limited, and the camp starts next Monday, February 19th.

Here are the deets:

Give yourselves the HIGHEST OF FIVES: you helped TeenTix raise $10,700.14 for our Annual Campaign, exceeding our goal of $10K!

Did you know that TeenTix gets most of its donations from teens & their parents? It’s true! YOU make TeenTix happen!

We need to raise just $360 a day for the next 12 days to meet our goal of $10,000 (that’ll allow us to send out 13,000 FREE TeenTix passes in 2018).

UPDATE: Applications will be accepted for The Press Corps Manager through Dec 31, 2017.

The Press Corps promotes critical thinking, communication, and information literacy through criticism and journalism practice for teens. Since 2006, some of the city’s most talented professional arts critics from The Seattle Times, The Stranger, Seattle Globalist, Seattle Dances and more, have taught over 550 teens through workshops and intensives focused on arts criticism training, resulting in over 450 reviews of arts and culture events that live on the TeenTix Blog. In 2015, we put the Press Corps on hiatus and worked with task force of community members to address some of the program’s ongoing challenges, including lack of significant racial and socio-economic diversity amongst program participants, and staffing challenges.

Our partners and community do so much more than provide art(erriffic) experiences--many of them also hold programming year-round that supports your participation! Check out what's on the docket for Fall/Winter 2017.

Drumroll, please, for the newest additions to our partner list, the the culmination of our work to expand the TeenTix program, and the most fantastic first six organizations from afar...

You can now use your TeenTix pass at the following TACOMA(!!!) partners: Broadway Center for the Performing Arts Museum of Glass Symphony Tacoma Washington State History Museum Tacoma Art Museum The Grand Cinema

We know transportation is a BIG part of the equation when you're planning your arts-going with your TeenTix Pass, which is why we're ALWAYS looking for new ways you can see art safely and for not a lot of dough. We also know that not everyone's transportation options are the same - so we like to work with people who can help teens get around Seattle in all sorts of different ways.

We are STOKED that our friends at ReachNow want to help.

Wouldn't you know it? Summer is a BUSY time for TeenTix - mainly because school isn't in session, so it's the best time for YOU to get out and enjoy all the arts and sunshine that our city has to offer! Which makes total sense. This city is amazing.

So, summer is like overdrive at TeenTix HQ - we're working away, making sure our calendar entries are up-to-date with all the most important information to make it as easy as possible for you to whip out your TeenTix pass around the clock until school starts up again. (Need a TeenTix Pass? Or maybe you lost it and need a replacement?)

Happy July! I’m Katherine and I’m back with more recommendations from The New Guard. In June, we took advantage of our summer freetime and went to a TON of TeenTix events. Some of our favorites included Sweeny Todd at ArtsWest, Lydia at Strawberry Theatre Workshop, and Welcome to Braggsville at Book-It. We all went to the MoPOP Summer Kickoff Party and it was so cool! What did you do in June?

This month, our number one recommendation is the Yayoi Kusamsa: Infinity Mirrors exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. Kusama is one of the most prolific artists of our time and this exhibit “contextualizes the notion of infinite expansion.” Besides the Instagram-famous mirror rooms, the exhibit includes paintings, sculpture, multi-media installations, and “rare archival materials.” Unfortunately, tickets for this exhibit are very hard to get but they are available on a first come-first serve basis starting at 10am. We highly recommend you have a backup plan in case you can’t get tickets. To learn more, check out the SAM website and follow their social media accounts.

HELLO FRIENDS! During the eve of May 20th a spammer attacked the TeenTix website! Nothing seems permantely broken - no info has been stolen - and we are working RIGHT NOW to fix it. BUT we did see that 2,000 SPAM emails were sent out using the info@teentix.org address. That was not us- we are so sorry - and we hope to resolve everything soon!

Please note - while we are workign to fix this we have had to TEMPORARILY stop all automatic emails, including the Password Reset and Lost Pass Requests are temporarily out of order.

Hey TeenTix members! It’s Katherine and I’m bringing you more recommendations from The New Guard, TeenTix’s Arts Leadership Society.

During April, we saw a TON of different shows and went to many events. Our favorites were Here Lies Love (which is still playing!) at Seattle Rep, The Secret Garden at 5th Ave, and Ballet on Broadway at PNB. Personally, I saw The Fog Machine Play at *new partner* Copious Love Productions (which was one of last month’s recommendations) and it was probably the weirdest thing I’ve seen (but also one of the coolest)!

Every year, we here at TeenTix get SO MANY REQUESTS from arts-presenting organizations to join our multi-faceted roster. TeenTix staff vets them, and The New Guard decide whether they're relevant to teen arts-going wants/needs/desires.

Well, today, we're stoked to present FIVE BRAND NEW TeenTix partners! Help us welcome CHOP SHOP Contemporary Dance Festival, ComedySportz Improv, Copious Love Productions, 18th & Union, and Abbey Arts to our community of teen-hyped arts institutions! Woooo!!