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Empowering Youth through the Arts
Teen Bridge connects young people from our community-based programs to our schoolhouse and beyond.
An art program at the Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts for a dedicated group of teens who participate outside of school time in a year-round, multi-year program combining art education and experience, life skills, mentorship, job training, and employment.
Teens collaborate with each other and teaching artists to develop their artistic, personal, and professional voice, and their skills. They learn to work as art teaching assistants and connect with Boston artists and opportunities. Participants help shape the program.
Recruitment takes place every fall, with new teens joining each January and continuing throughout high school.
For additional information about Teen Bridge, please contact Camila Bohan Insaurralde. For additional information about our Artist in Residence program, please contact Emma Green.
Eliot School Teen Bridge Applications are now live!
To apply, fill out our Teen Bridge application form here.
Deadline extended to: Nov 18th at 11:59 pm.
Please note, this is a competitive process, and you will be contacted for an interview. Selected applicants will start January 2023.
WHO SHOULD APPLY?
We are always looking for passionate, creative, driven young artists. Especially those who have participated in the Eliot School's BPS School Partnership Program or who have limited access to arts programming. Currently we’re looking for 8th 9th and 10th grade students. Teen artists need to be available: Wednesdays and Thursday from 4:30pm – 6:30pm and be able to get to the Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts Annex Space, located at 253 Amory St in Jamaica Plain.
Eligibility requirements:
- Be a resident of the City of Boston
- In grades 8, 9, or 10 in the 2022-2023 school year
- Be able to attend after-school programming consistently.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Teen artists will meet for open studio time after their school dismisses for the day on Wednesdays and Thursdays, structured program runs 4:30 – 6:30pm. Teen Bridge aims to enhance fundamental art skills, explore new art forms, practice professional art skills, take trips to visit local artists and exhibitions, and gain valuable art-based job skills. At the end of the school year, Teens will put together a showcase of their work and participate in a year-end celebration.
After completing the Teen Bridge program year all teens will have the opportunity to interview for a 7-week paid position as Art Teacher’s Assistants in the Eliot School’s Summer Program for Children or a 4-week paid intensive as artist assistants with our artist-in-residence program.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
This program is free and the student receives a modest stipend.
WHEN IS IT HAPPENING?
4:30 pm – 6:30 pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays from January 11th, 2023 - June 10th, 2023.
Accepted students are invited to our winter celebration on Dec 17th, 2022.
Si prefiere recibir esta información en español, por favor contáctenos via corréo electrónico a Camila Bohan Insaurralde, coordinadora de recursos juveniles.
Teen Bridge and Artist in Residence programs are made possible through the generous support of The Adelard A. and Valeda Lea Roy Foundation, Boston Private Industry Council, BPS Arts Expansion Fund at EdVestors, City of Boston Department of Youth Engagement & Employment, Deborah Munroe Noonan Memorial Fund, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee, The Joe Kalt & Judy Gans Family Foundation, Linde Family Foundation, Maureen and David Moses Family, National Endowment for the Arts, New England Foundation for the Art’s Public Art for Spatial Justice program, with generous support from the Barr Foundation, New World Foundation, general support from Mass Cultural Council, and individual donors.
Teen Bridge and Artist in Residence programs are also funded in part by Boston Public Schools (BPS) Arts Expansion, a multi-year effort focusing on access, equity, and quality arts learning for BPS students. The BPS Arts Expansion Fund, managed by EdVestors, is supported by the Barr Foundation, The Boston Foundation, Katie and Paul Buttenwieser, The Klarman Family Foundation, Linde Family Foundation, and other individuals. BPS Arts Expansion is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Teen Bridge and Artist in Residence were made possible with funding from the New England Foundation for the Arts' Public Art for Spatial Justice program, with generous support from the Barr Foundation.
Follow Teen Bridge on Instagram
Teen Bridge Goes Behind the Scenes of the MFA Boston's Basquiat Exhibition
The current Teen Bridge cohort completed their fall 2020 semester. The young artists took on skill-building challenges to hone their formal art skills to complete mixed media and collage pieces for their portfolios.
Most recently, Curator of Contemporary art at the MFA Boston Liz Munsell, gave teen bridge students a virtual tour of the Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip Hop Generation and an inside look at how the exhibition came to be. Tanya Nixon Silberg co-founder of Little Uprisings and Wee the People, complemented the tour with a workshop on museums and cultural institutions, that posed the questions: Who are museums for? Who do they serve? And how can museums be more accessible?
To learn more and see their work, click here.
Watch InterGeneration Trailer
The documentary-in-progress that began in our 2020 Artist In Residence Teen Bridge Program with artist/filmmaker, Carolyn Shadid Lewis.
Watch Last Year's Virtual End of the Year Celebration
Saturday, June 20, 2020 4:30-5:30pm
Teen Bridge students were recognized for all their accomplishments this year during a live Zoom event. Teens presented their artwork, received awards, and gave their fellow friends well-deserved shout-outs.