#baxteens

Interning at BAX was such a fun and cool learning experience. 

The environment at BAX was welcoming and kind and before I even knew everyone’s name I was greeted with friendly hellos from everyone I passed. I  met people I didn't even work with and I got to know them and their work.

Fernando and Melanie told me stories about themselves and their experiences and made me feel like an employee at BAX even in the small amount of time that I have worked there. Even just sitting and doing work. I hear the laughter and screams of the NanoBAXers and their counselors and it's always so entertaining to hear! 

I only had had a small amount of knowledge about Photoshop and how to work with images online to get a cool outcome, but working at BAX this summer have learned so much more. I even learned to work with such apps as Illustrator and InDesign! Initially, I was unsure of how my work would come out. Seeing all the masterpieces for the Open House, I was nervous that I would not have something I could be proud of. However, as the weeks progressed I started to think of what I could incorporate into my design to make it publishable and amazing. I drew multiple drawings before I came to the one I chose. I thought of being in the City of New York, and the location of BAX, and how it could all come together. Then I came to find the essence of New York, as silly as it may seem, Public Transportation. It all became clear. All around me in NY are busy streets and cars full of people. As this idea came about, I noticed that I should stop drawing numerous bland ideas and take time to pursue one spectacular idea. As I drew this sketch onto a board, I showed it to Fernando and he said, "This has a lot of potential." Just this small sentence filled me with so much excitement and energy, that all those thoughts of having a bad poster design completely dissipated. 

As the poster design progressed I started to think of how I could incorporate my own touch to the poster. So I thought of the various art forms I had studied in school, painting, jewelry making, photography. That last one stuck. I wanted to take a photo of the BAX building and be able to use it for the poster. Fernando helped do just that. We took various photos of the building and finally chose one that fit well. With this photo, everything started to come together. I opened the photo in Photoshop and got to work. Later I imported the photo into Illustrator to turn it into a drawing and then used InDesign to bring it all together.

Jacob came to us with a strong interest in comic books. So we worked on designing the 2016 Open House poster as a comic book cover. After a few weeks of research, we were not making a lot of progress. It took us some time to figure each other out and come to an understanding of how to work together. 

What finally brought us together? A spirited discussion about the “Save Martha” scene in the Superman V Batman movie, which lead to a deep conversation around feedback and aesthetics. After that, we knew we could be frank with each other and not take it personally, which after all, is the cornerstone of a good collaborative team. To top it all off he came up with a fabulous design that we were proud to display throughout the neighborhood. 

In this photo, Jacob explains the various color choices for his design. 

I loved interning at BAX. 

BAX provided me with opportunities I’ve never experienced before. When I first started off at BAX I was doing more administrative tasks like updating the website. Fernando even helped me to pick up some basic HTML coding. It was very interesting to learn how the websites we use every day actually function. It was something very new to me but thanks to my mentor I was able to quickly learn my way around. 

BAX was my first ever internship and so my first time sitting behind a computer at a desk and listening to commands. It was a wonderful real-life experience. It was preparing me for life after high school. 

Later on, during my time at BAX, I began to focus on designing. Although I had designed before, at school and in my free time, I was able to learn very important techniques from Fernando. These were skills that any real designer needed to know (like color combinations and spacing). Fernando was always very patient and ready to teach me new techniques and then re-teach the techniques. I was able to give back to BAX by designing signage and postcards. However, it was while designing the fall open house poster that I was really able to fully utilize everything I learned. I worked hard on putting together something that represented my way of designing. I was very satisfied with the work I created under Fernando’s supervision. My time at BAX was an all-around learning experience that could not have possibly been recreated anywhere else!

“It made me realize how dire your own truth is to your art.” – Christian

“It made me think about where I draw my inspiration for the stories I tell.” – Ruby T.

“It taught me to be truthful whenever I’m performing.” – Bria Knox

“Best experience of my life!” – LeAnn Hoang

“The impactfulness of being blunt about current events.” – Ana

“It inspired me to work outside my bubble.” – Julian Purino

“This was one of the greatest dance experiences of my life. If I could do it again I would.” – Julian Purino

“It made me think about so many different perspectives.” – Kennedy 

“The theme of the TAC made me think more about the perspective I was portraying in my dance.” – Ava Mascuch

I want to add my incredible gratitude to this chain. WHAT AN AMAZING EVENT! I love how I see my students being challenged, moving into their growing edge, opening themselves to new perspectives and challenging themselves to reach out and make connections. It is a beautiful thing to see the mission and of BAX being manifested in this way.

I found myself involved in so many rich and layered conversations throughout the day with my fellow teaching artists AND students from other groups. I really felt palpably how we were held in a space that invited the participants to share, be vulnerable, and speak their truth and grow. And this is the direct result of the incredibly thoughtful and herculean efforts of the BAX staff. So proud to be a part of BAX and this vital magic. ❤️ 

- Helen Tocci, BAX teacher 

Starting with the Irondale kickoff event and throughout Saturday the question and power of representation and authorship came up. And while none of the eight groups were aware of each other’s work in advance, nor our theme necessarily, it was staggering and promising how their voices echoed one another. Mirrors and bridges of and to each other’s worlds. A call to protect black lives and for gun control persisted throughout nearly every piece and while it laid out violent ugly truths, it was also full of fight and hope. Perhaps America WILL be ok once they take power.

Setting this intention also meant anchoring ourselves. Despite so often a lack of time to make connections explicitly, I found myself -and I saw other group reps doing/thinking it too - constantly coming back to race, representation, choice, and privilege. We must continue the work of cultivating strong, positive racial identities in ALL our students at BAX, including our white students for whom race and racism is something they see but need support naming.

I missed the orientation but saw what a healthy, uniting tone it set thanks to Casey and Donna. I likewise missed many of the workshops but heard Kelindah’s drag performance workshop was off the chain (and we must bring it back! Dpw guest workshop?!!) and saw the sweaty, beaming bodies leaving Skye’s hip hop and Helen’s Swing Dance workshop.

The panels were a powerful highlight. I attended Tanisha’s and saw BAX and the conference’s promise of exchange crystallized. One CAT performer told Tanisha how meaningful it was to hear a story about and in the voice of a young black woman like herself —- again, power in representation.

- Lucia Sheckner, Education Director 

In the beauty of community—I sat in the Irondale panel- to find Tracey P. (parent coordinator at BCS) part of the Serve, Protect and Understand project and saw her do a scene (based on Sandra Bland) with police officer Miguel (And they did it twice with role reversal). In the Irondale video of past sessions, there was Ed Kelly-our tech guru and robotics teacher at BNS/BCS.

Also, past BAX & BNS students were bountiful—with Destiny and Anaise part of Cora Dance, Violette in Irondale youth, Tyler was part of Kate Bell’s performance lab (parent is Beth - math/computer teacher at BNS and younger Olivia takes ballet).

I also couldn’t help but notice how having younger artists Nia/Ness could be so powerful...as they are not so far from the ages of the teens!!

It was also a treasure to have Heather & 407moves back to BAX...and see all the connections among the facilitators. Jersey in the house!!