Arts for Learning Miami (A4L) is kicking off their summer with its second year of Artworks. Young Audiences' ArtWorks program is an arts-based job training program for high school students designed to develop 21st Century skills for the workplace through apprenticeships in the arts. Students are hired to work in small groups called co-ops, under the guidance of a professional master teaching artist. This program was created by Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio and is available in other affiliates around the country.
The Miami ArtWorks program will provide 30 high school students the opportunity to pursue their interests in the arts while learning essential work skills through six-week paid summer art internships. Once hired as an ArtWorks intern, A4L assigns each student to a discipline-specific job in the field of dance, theatre, or visual arts. Each year, ArtWorks will add new art forms to expand the artistic repertoire of the job offerings, which could include: architecture, arts administration, fashion, filmmaking, graphic design, lighting/sound design, music, or photography. Students also participate in Art Basel Miami Beach, via tours, workshops or volunteering. The program is open to all students, regardless of their artistic experience.
The Miami ArtWorks program will be launching its second programming year thanks to the continued support of UBS and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation through its Knight Arts Challenge. Recognizing ArtWorks' innovative approach, and potential community impact and outreach, Knight Foundation awarded A4L a $225,000 grant over three years to extend the program beyond its initial pilot. The Knight Arts Challenge is a community-wide contest funding projects that bring South Florida together through the arts. Last summer, A4L established ArtWorks with seed funding from UBS; as a result, the program began transforming Miami's Wynwood Arts District into a dynamic job training campus for students from the surrounding neighborhoods. UBS has generously continued its support with a $75,000 award to match fully the first year of the Knight Arts Challenge Grant. The UBS funding will also expand the program beyond the summer so that students may participate in ArtWorks during the academic year.
To prepare for the summer, A4L interviewed 70 prospective 10th, 11th and 12th grade student applicants from Miami Edison Senior High, Miami Northwestern Senior High, Design and Architecture Senior High, and New World School of the Arts. A4L also recruited students from the local All Kids Included: Youth Arts in the Park program, which primarily serves students with disabilities. During the school year, ArtWorks will engage ten students through a visual art internship; school year interns will receive academic credit in lieu of financial compensation for work completed. During 2013-14, student applicants apply for the ArtWorks program through Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
For more information: Ivy Bennett, Program Director, ivy@a4lmiami.org
ArtWorks students collaborating on a visual project under the direction of Carlos Noguera, Master Teaching Artist, during summer 2012.
