The Future is Full of Youth Arts Advocates

On Wednesday, February 21, MASSCreative staff Tracie Konopinski and Selassie Davies joined over 100 young people for the Boch Center’s Youth Arts for Social Change Summit at Hibernian Hall in Dudley Square, Boston to talk about the importance of youth voice, arts, and advocacy.

The day was led by an inspiring group of teen leaders from the City Spotlights Teen Leadership Program who wear their role as artists and advocates with pride. These are teens to learn from -  they aren't afraid to ask for what they need as creative young people living in Massachusetts.

After coming up with working definition of advocacy to lead the day, the teens discussed ways they have successfully advocated for change and the challenges of advocating for what they need as young people. Turning discussion into action, the participants created performances showing how they would address some of the challenges they experience - pressure to succeed, gun violence, lack of access to affordable higher education and information they need to make healthy life choices.

Many of the young people had already heard about President Trump’s proposal to shut down the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and were ready to add their voices to our fight against it. Read why #ArtsMatter to them and why they're asking their members of Congress to stand up for arts and culture.

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