Meet the Teen Editorial Staff!
We are thrilled to announce the newest Press Corps program: The Teen Editorial Staff! The Teen Editorial Staff is a group of five teens who will edit and curate the content for the review section of the TeenTix blog. These five youth will lead a newsroom of teen writers who will cover events selected by the editors at TeenTix’s Arts Partners.
A statement from the Teen Editorial Staff:
"As teens, we feel that art is often made inaccessible for our demographic. As the Teen Editorial Staff, we are working to fix that by giving teens a voice in the adult-dominated world of arts criticism."
Meet the Fab Five:
Anya Shukla
Anya Shukla is a 10th grader at Lakeside School, where she is part of her school newspaper. Along with an interest in journalistic writing, Anya likes to write creatively; as well she has edited for a magazine called Polyphony Lit. She is closely connected with TeenTix—she has participated in the Press Corps Intensive, and is currently on the New Guard Leadership Board. She joined the Teen Editorial Staff to hear more teen voices and get teens interested in arts criticism; she is also excited to get to work with people from diverse backgrounds! Additionally, the best show she has ever seen was Black Bois at On The Boards.
Hannah Schoettmer
Hannah really likes scented candles, and her most prized possession is Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumors” on cassette. Some of her marketable skills include a passion for music (she plays more than just “Wonderwall” on guitar), a deep love of stories (she asks a lot of questions), and her ability to give facts about sea creatures on demand. Her favorite arts event she’s ever been to is a production of ‘Aladdin’ she attended in second grade, which really sparked her love of all things artsy. Through arts criticism, she hopes to help others in her quest to add more voices to the world.
Huma Ali
Huma is a junior at Lake Washington High School. She is the founder of her school’s Creative Writing Club, where she and her peers spend hours upon hours reading short stories from the New Yorker. She also serves as a member of the Bellevue Art Museum’s Teen Arts Council. Huma has been a long time patron of the arts. She finds that they provide her with insight into the world. One of her favorite arts exhibits so far includes Humaira Abid’s “Searching for Home.” Huma values collaboration and growth; and hopes to emulate those values on the Teen Editorial Staff. In her spare time, she can be found drinking Kashmiri chai, listening to Helios, absorbed in a piece of literature.
Joshua Fernandes
Joshua Fernandes was just an ordinary junior at Ballard High School. The greatest art event he ever attended was seeing the best movie of all time, Spider-Man 2, in theaters when he was 2 years old. He played the stand up bass in his school’s orchestra and fiddle program, and was a part of his school’s film program. However, one fateful day he got bitten by a bug that changed his life. The writing bug. Since then, Joshua has participated in KUOW’s RadioActive radio internship program, where he culminated a love of the auditory arts by making podcasts. Joshua still does all the things he used to do, but now he’s got to find a way to satisfy his hunger for writing. Josh hopes to take his experience in a more critical direction as a member of the Teen Editorial Staff, where he hopes to explore more visual art.
Lily Williamson
Lily Williamson is a sophomore at Shorewood High School. She is currently a member of TeenTix's New Guard and has participated in the Press Corps program. Lily enjoys all genres of art and arts criticism, but is especially passionate about visual arts and theatre and exploring the intersection between social justice and criticism. She joined the Teen Editorial Staff with a desire to make art more accessible and appealing to teens. The best show Lily has ever seen with her TeenTix Pass was the Seattle Shakespeare Company's production of "Othello."
