get tickets

Advance tickets are now available for visits through September 1. Book now

Since 2009 the ICA Boston has hosted the National Teen Convening for teen and educators nationwide. Teen Convenings center youth voice in a field-wide conversation, opening space for teens to contribute to knowledge and decisions about their own arts education. While Building Brave Spaces will follow a slightly different model than the Teen Convening, we have learned a lot from the successes of Teen Convenings that informs planning for the conference. Above all, we have learned that shared voice among youth and educators is essential to the growth of teen arts education. Read on for a re-cap of past teen convenings—all of these themes will inspire and find their ways into Building Brave Spaces!

HUB_Photo 2 - 2009 Generation O.jpg

2009: Generation 0

The inaugural teen convening, Generation O explored how teens’ experiences in museums shape their future, how institutions maintain relevancy to teens and how various institutions can share stories about teen programs. These teen participants laugh and share in conversation around the now emblematic Teen Convening-style roundtable that centers youth and educator voice together. Look for roundtable sessions at Building Brave Spaces!

Partnering Organizations:

  • Marwen
  • Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami
  • Museum of Modern Art
  • Walker Art Center
     

HUB_Photo 3 - 2010 Art and Identity (2).JPG

2010: Art and Identity: Making Art to Belong, Making Art to Distinguish Oneself

Teens are simultaneously challenged with forming individual identities and also finding place in a group of peers. The second annual teen convening approached art and identity together, asking how art aids in both of these processes. Here, teens from the Seattle Art Museum present from their own teen programs to Convening participants.

Partnering Organizations:

  • The Bronx Museum
  • Contemporary Arts Center/New Orleans
  • Marwen
  • Seattle Art Museum
  • Walker Art Center
  • Whitney Museum of American Art
     

HUB_Photo 4 - 2011 Real Life Remixed.jpg

2011: Real Life Remixed

Art is both self-contained and ameliorative; in this teen convening participants explored the notion that art museums can, similarly, be safe spaces and welcome experimentation to challenge everyday life. Teens, educators, and artists shared voice on this 2011 teen convening panel.

Partnering Organizations:

  • Arthouse
  • Marwen
  • Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles
  • Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
  • The Walker Art Center
  • The Warhol Museum
  • The Wexner Center for the Arts
  • The Whitney Museum
     

HUB_Photo 5 - 2012 State of the Art.jpg

2012: State of the Art: teens and technology

Teens and technology seem to go hand in hand. This convening dove deeply into the ways in which technology can be utilized by museums to make visiting experiences better for teens. It also explored the role technology and the internet plays in forming identity and the multiple identities that appear as a result of having an online persona. Teens, educators, artists and other interested parties joined in the three day event to explore these topics. In this photo, teens and educators show off their hand-made flags after a Teen Convening artist encounter with Aaron Rose.

Partnering Organizations:

  • Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art
  • Marwen
  • The Studio Museum in Harlem
  • The Walker Art Center
  • Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
     

HUB_Photo 6 - 2013 Customize.jpg

2013: Customize: Maker Culture, Youth, Creativity

Experimentation is a vital process for youth and teens, and this convening explored the role of experimentation and participation in customized experiences. Sessions, roundtables, and presentations explored the overlap and links between maker culture and art practice and how these can be applied to teen programs. The teen convening participant above deconstructs a machine!

Partnering Organizations:

  • The Contemporary Art Museum Saint Louis
  • The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
  • The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
  • The North Carolina Museum of Art
  • Seattle Art Museum
  • Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
     

HUB_Photo 7 - 2014 Give and Take.jpg

2014: Give and Take

Teens are impacted greatly by arts education programs, but what impact do teens have on the museums they call home? Give and Take considered this exchange and the positive impact teens have on their host institutions. Teen presence in the museum and/or institution can create more equity and fundamentally shifts the ways in which museums operate, from visitor assistants in the galleries, to educational programming, to relationships with artists. Pictured above is Aric Oak, now an ICA Teen alumnus and teaching assistant in teen programs.

Partnering Organizations:

  • Art Gallery of Ontario
  • Artpace San Antonio
  • Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
  • The Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver
  • Park Avenue Armory
  • Whitney Museum of American Art
     

HUB_Photo 8 - 2015 Outside the Lines.jpg

2015: Outside the Lines

Outside The Lines was all about blurring boundaries, breaking down silos and encouraging the cross disciplinary and expansive nature of contemporary art practices. Convening participants had conversations and completed activities that allowed them to consider the ways art museums and teen programs can also exist ‘outside the lines’ of traditional art and museum practice.  

Partnering Organizations:

  • Artpace
  • The High Museum
  • Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
  • Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit
  • The Pérez Art Museum Miami
  • Queens Museum
     

HUB_Photo 9 - 2016 After the Bell.JPG

2016: After the Bell

There is magic in learning after the bell. This teen convening focused on distinctive out-of-school based arts programming that prioritizes active learning, self-direction, collaborative experiences and creative freedom. Art museums are vital places that support growth and development for teens through creative, focused time.

Partnering Organizations:

  • The Art Institute of Chicago
  • The Brooklyn Museum
  • The Contemporary Austin
  • Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
  • The High Museum of Art
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art
  • Ogden Museum of Southern Art
     

HUB_Photo 10 - 2017 Regional Convenings Art Instute.jpg

2017: Regional Teen Convenings

While the Teen Convening is a national program founded and managed by the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, it is brought to life by a network of partner organizations across the country. In the spirit of the Teen Convening’s goal to empower teens to lead vital conversations on a national level about young people in the arts, the Teen Convening/Regional program supports arts organizations to produce geographically relevant and impactful Teen Convening–style events at the local level. During 2016 and 2017 regional convenings were held nationwide. Here is a group of regional Teen Convening participants at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Regional Convening hosts:

  • The Brooklyn Museum
  • LACMA
  • The High Museum
  • Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
  • The Contemporary Austin
  • The Art Institute of Chicago
  • The Odgen Museum
  • Artpace
  • Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
  • Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit
  • Perez Art Museum Miami
  • Queens Museum
     

HUB_Photo 11 - 2018 Building Brave Spaces.JPG

2018: Building Brave Spaces

Now, marking ten years of Teen Convenings, ICA Boston will host Building Brave Spaces, a national conference on the field of teen arts education. The conference is distinct from the convening structure and expands upon past years’ learning. We invite educators, CYD practitioners, and teens nationwide to gather and consider the future of teen arts education. How can we build brave spaces for teens and educators alike? Join us in November 2018 to figure it out!

 

Building Brave Spaces is coming this November. Leaders from across the nation and across sectors will gather in Boston to mobilize the field of teen arts education. As we look back on the last ten years of our own Teen Convenings, countless teen nights, teen workshops, Teen Artist Encounters and more, we reflect on the long-term impacts of teen programs. We are also looking forward and thinking critically about how to mobilize the field of teen arts education for a better future. Given the challenges teens face today they need arts programs now more than ever—to create, to express, to learn, and most importantly, to be heard.

Teen Arts Education

If you have worked in or with a teen arts program you have probably experienced the benefits and challenges of non-school-based arts programming. You may have seen teenagers experience transformative moments, learn new skills, gain confidence, and develop leadership qualities. But what are the long-term impacts of teen arts education? How do we know we are making a difference that extends beyond the turbulent years of teenhood and influences the formation of one’s long-term identity? What is the value of teen arts programs for teens who might not continue working in the arts? In 2015 Danielle Linzer, now Director of Learning and Public Engagement at the Andy Warhol Museum, was Project Director of Room to Rise, a study led by the Whitney Museum measuring the lasting impacts of teen arts education. Room to Rise quantified impacts through hard data as well as qualitative testimonials from participants in museum-based teen arts programs. We had a conversation with Danielle to dig into above-mentioned questions. The following insights emerged from the discussion and reflect her deep understanding of teen arts education.

But what is it about teens?

Teens. Teenagers. Adolescents. These young humans are experiencing radical emotional, physical, and psychological changes (*cue a stuttering David Bowie). These shifts make teens hypersensitive—experiences are rich, intense, and unforgettable. They are ‘trying on selves,’ becoming independent thinkers, and beginning to think philosophically about life. Experimentation and rebelliousness are central to the transition to adulthood as they fail, learn, and try again. For all of these reasons, art education during the teenage years produces salient moments that impact youth in the long term:

I walked away understanding why it’s important to question who I am. And I don’t think in American society that we really do get that ability; we don’t get to question who we are, because society tells us, this is who you’re supposed to be…Youth Insights allows…young people to learn who they are, but learn who they are through art and in that define themselves.

Charles Galberth, Youth Insights Alum, Whitney Museum of American Art, from Room to Rise

Why non-school based arts programming?

Non-school teen arts education programs create spaces where teens can express the many facets of their growing identities. They can try on the hats of their personalities and learn from their peers. They learn who they want to be and how to be in a space free of the judgments of school teachers or guardians. In museum settings, teens are often valued for the very idiosyncrasies that can make learning in a traditional school environment challenging. A teen reflected on this at the 2016 National Teen Convening at ICA/Boston:

At a discussion, I talked about how very specific abilities, such as mathematical aptitude, are valued over others. I then trailed off unconfidently, but my film teacher Cliff said, “I know exactly what you’re saying. A school has the ability to make or break a person.” Hearing my own teacher affirm the reality of such a poor and often-overlooked part of most schools helped me forgive myself for not being a cookie-cutter student. From that point on, I was more inclined to value the way I am different.

Beatrice Espanola, Fast Forward Member, ICA/Boston
 

In many ways the contemporary artistic practice mirrors the trials of teenhood. Contemporary art deals centrally with pushing boundaries, critiquing and questioning power structures, and designing or imagining future possibilities based around equity, inclusion, and bold creativity. Art allows teens to engage with their criticality and rebellious tendencies through a generative process and consequently experience achievement and confidence.

Other alumni describe similar personal growth—a steadily emerging sense of identity, confidence, achievement, and empowerment—as a powerful, lasting benefit of intensive teen programs.

Room to Rise, 2015

The making of art is also a rigorous process. Teenagers learn from the combination of rigor and creativity demanded of them when working on creative projects, assisting visiting artists, and developing or planning museum events. Through making art, teens are asked to engage in constant decision-making. One must think through outcomes, make choices, and find new solutions when presented with an undesirable result. The transferability of skills like critical thinking, decision making, and creative problem solving are endless. Some teens will go on to work in museums or as artists themselves, but others will move on to become lawyers, farmers, or community leaders and they carry this toolbox with them.

How do we make our teen programs better?

Knowing that anecdotal evidence of long-term impacts of teen programs is backed statistically by hard-won evidence is exciting, but there is real work in figuring out what is next. Now that we know teen arts programs have long term impacts on participants, what can we do to make them better? How can we craft programs that have positive long-term benefits and focused outcomes?

The Room to Rise study included an interesting finding that teens rate their experiences higher when in diverse program groups that incorporate students from multiple ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds. The findings did not clearly depict why this is so—or what in particular about being in diversified groups led to a higher-rated experience, but findings like this help us glean insight about how to create the most impactful programming for teens. They also bolster the idea that teen programming in general supports the long-term social sustainability of a museum. Not only are teens impacted in the long-term, but the museum itself is propelled towards progression, self-reflection, and equity when fully engaged with teen programming across the institution.

Despite a cache replete with evidence for long-term impacts of museum-led arts programs on teens ability to become employed, successfully finish a project, make a work of art, or become a leader among peers, what speaks to us in our current cultural moment is the power of institutional listening. When teens are immersed in non-school, arts-based programming, they feel they are listened to. The value of being heard is unquantifiable—and perhaps immeasurable.

I understand now the importance of making my voice heard in a productive way, and that is something that will last a lifetime.

Cecelia Halle, Teen Arts Council. ICA Boston

 

Read the full Room to Rise report.

We are thrilled to have Danielle on the Advisory Committee for Building Brave Spaces: Mobilizing Teen Arts Education national conference!

Danielle Linzer is the Director of Learning and Public Engagement at The Andy Warhol Museum. At The Warhol she oversees education, interpretation, programming, and outreach strategies for audiences of all ages and abilities, both in the museum and in the community. Prior to her arrival at The Warhol, Danielle was Director of Access and Community Programs at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she managed broad institutional programming, compliance, and audience development efforts around accessibility and inclusion, as well as community-based partnerships and outreach strategies for populations that have traditionally been underserved by cultural organizations. In 2016 she published Room to Rise, findings from a multi-year research initiative investigating long-term impacts of teen programs in art museums, in collaboration with the Walker Art Center, the Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Danielle received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and holds an M.S. in Leadership in Museum Education from Bank Street College.

We sat down with Carlie Bristow, Teen Programs Associate at the ICA/Boston, to learn about ICA Teens’ latest programming—conceived of and executed by ICA teens themselves! Read on to learn more…

What is The Current?

The Current is a series of ongoing teen-organized programs focused on the intersection of art and social change and is our newest ICA Teen Program. Several ICA Teens expressed the need for a teen-centered event to address social issues in their communities and nationally. The Current was born and we hosted our first one in fall 2016.

How is The Current organized?

The Current is planned, organized and facilitated by a group of ICA Teens. This group draws inspiration from ICA/Boston’s exhibitions and pressing social issues. They come up with the theme and plan the Current accordingly, often collaborating with community groups and experts on the chosen topic.

The Current has had three iterations so far and each one was different. We’ve found it’s important to test multiple formats when starting a new program! For the first one they addressed racial injustice by hosting round-table discussions and leading tours of the galleries. The second Current was inspired by afro-futurism and the teens reimagined more hopeful futures through hosting a panel discussion and workshops with leaders in the field.

Our most recent Current, in December of 2017 was inspired by the exhibition Mark Dion: Misadventures of a 21st-Century Naturalist. Five ICA teen artists were each asked to create a piece of artwork that focused on nature and its role in society. At the event, the artists showed their work and then participated in a conversation facilitated by another ICA Teen. We are excited by the shape the Current has taken and plan to nurture this structure of youth artist showcase and discussion.

How does The Current enrich teen programs at ICA / Boston?

The Current has become an incredible opportunity for our teens to deal specifically with the intersection of contemporary art and social change. While we talk about and address social issues regularly in our ICA Teen after school programs, the Current allows us to focus pointedly on social change as it relates to the lives of the teens. Often the artists represented in the ICA galleries are speaking to topics that ICA teens discuss on a daily basis, so connecting the two in the form of a program was a natural and necessary pairing.

What did you learn from hosting the last The Current?

We learned from the last Current that pairing teen voices with original teen artwork is vital to this event. With teens responding to exhibitions and social topics through their voices and making art, our understanding of the content became much more comprehensive and the event more engaging. We also learned that audience members want to be involved. Instead of just having them sit and listen, we created a dialogue in which the audience drives the conversation. We later learned that this was incredibly important to their experience.

Tell us about the next Current.

The next Current will take place on May 5 – put it in your calendars now! The format will be similar, but the content will be much different. The topic will be inspired by the exhibition Art in the Age of the Internet, 1989 to Today. Instead of having ICA Teen artists present their original artwork, we will be asking non-ICA teens in the Boston community to submit their artwork. ICA Teens will act as curators and pick artworks relevant to the chosen topic. On May 5, we will ask the selected Boston area teens to present their artwork inspired by the internet and be a part of a larger conversation hosted by ICA Teens. It is sure to be a stimulating event!

Anything else we should know?

These events are always free for teens!!

I’m no longer accepting the things I cannot change…. I’m changing the things I cannot accept.

Angela Davis

What can you not accept? What can you do to change it? How can shifting mindset lead to more equitable, bold, and community-driven museums that create spaces of growth and empowerment for our teens?

Read this reflection by Mike Murawski over at Art Museum Teaching on the impact of Angela Davis’s words on his approach to museum work. He advocates for moving around a systematic ‘no’ and asking museums to step up as leaders in the face of inequity. Think about injustices that you cannot accept and ask your teens what they would like to change. As we prepare to address inequity during the 2018 Teen Conference, we reflect on how we at ICA Teen Programs can choose change.

In celebration of a decade of hosting annual Teen Convenings, the ICA Boston will hold an unprecedented national conference, Building Brave Spaces: Mobilizing Teen Arts Education, November 2–4, 2018. This event will be an immersive, three-day forum for collaboration and understanding across institutions, generations, and geographies. Educators and teens from across the nation—and the globe—will assemble and learn together.

As part of our planning, the ICA hosted a national and multi-disciplinary advisory group in the summer of 2017 to help us shape an agenda. This advisory committee for the Teen Arts conference includes professionals, artists, teen arts programs members, and leaders in the museum field. These individuals possess an incredible body of knowledge, and bring distinct perspectives and specialties that make this committee a potent force to craft the Teen conference over the coming months.

Despite their unique contributions, the advisory committee members commonly share a dedication and passion for expanding the field of teen arts education. Their noteworthy accomplishments have fostered inclusion, disrupted institutional inequities, and, as a result, redefined the role of the arts and arts education in the lives of our teenagers. Advisory member interests include domestic poverty, climate change education, confronting institutional power, poetry as social force, exposition of personal-cultural narratives, and ethics of citizen-science—subjects we find critical in this historical moment and essential topics for discussion. Each member’s wide-ranging professional and artistic efforts have served within their communities to mobilize education and integrate the arts as a touchstone of resilient social systems. We couldn’t be more proud—or more grateful—to have them and their guidance on the path to the 2018 Conference.

Advisory Committee Members:

  • Anthony Barrows, Managing Director, Ideas42 (New York)
  • Donovan Birch Jr., ICA Teen Alumnus, Teen Convening Presenter 2009 (San Francisco)
  • Antonia Contro, Executive Director, Marwen (Chicago)
  • Karla Diaz, Artist (Los Angeles)
  • Turahn Dorsey, Chief of Education, City of Boston (Boston)
  • Radiah Harper, Museum Educator and Creative Consultant (Brooklyn)
  • Danielle Linzer, Director of Learning and Public Engagement, Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh)
  • Rasheem Mohammad, ICA Teen (2016–present)
  • Carlos Moreno, ArtPace Teen Council Alumnus, Teen Convening Presenter 2015 (Austin)
  • Amireh Rezai-Kamalabad, ICA Teen (2013-present), Teen Convening Presenter 2015
  • Dario Robleto, Artist (Houston)
  • Steve Seidel, Director of Arts in Education, Harvard University (Boston)
  • Mario Ybarra Jr., Artist (Los Angeles)
  • Monica Garza, Director of Education, ICA/Boston
  • Gabrielle Wyrick, Associate Director of Education, ICA/Boston