Samples of our work

Apprentices: Stephen-Dinah-Rehema-Davona-Latrell, Master Teaching Artist: Jeremy Stock, Artworks Coordinator: Esther Blakely at Sunday Skate shop selling their skate decks and comic books! 

(excerpt from the Artworks celebration speech )

“Don’t tell people your dreams. SHOW THEM!” -Anonymous

“I hope the Artworks programs has enabled you to feel more equipped and ready for the great big world out there. I’m expecting great things from all of you! Enjoy the rest of your summer and remember to apply the one thing that I asked every Wednesday and that is to have an open mind! Do not limit yourself and do not allow others to put restraints on what you aspire to be. Truly the world is more beautiful because all of you are in it” !

Students from ArtWorks Summer Apprenticeship Program are spending the summer working and learning with tremendous artists and organizations such as Jeremy Stock, Western New York Book Arts Center, and Apollo Media. ArtWorks is a paid apprenticeship where youth develop their artistic skills as well as gain employment skills in a stimulating artists workplace environment. Here is a sample of a student’s artwork which will be showcased and up for sale at Sunday’s Skate Shop at the end of the summer. 

Starlight Studio and Art Gallery is a cooperative environment that supports adults with disabilities in their artistic development. Through technical assistance by professional artists, on-site and off-site exhibitions and other opportunities for representation and sales, the Starlight artists hone their artistic interests, become stronger advocates and better integrated citizens.

2nd grade teacher Mr. Tello brought his class to Starlight Studio as part of the Arts Partners for Learning residency with Waterfront Elementary. 

Students created hybrid animals to discuss diversity and acceptance. 

“This was a great timing for this to happen,” said Mr. Tello, 2nd grade teacher at Waterfront Elementary, “because we were talking about [diversity] in class, and we learned about all different ways to do art.” 

“I loved seeing all of the insects.” added one young student. 

“Mostly,” he added, “I liked that we learned how to work together as a team. We all helped each other.” 

Arts Partners for Learning provided a residency program with Neglia Ballet at Occupational Training School #42. The program was featured by WBFO correspondent on education Eileen Buckley. 

To read the article, click this link: http://news.wbfo.org/post/bps-42-providing-skills-students-severe-intellectual-disabilities#stream/0

Erie County Youth Detention Center programs fluctuate with the youth who travel through it. Every child, regardless of their past choices, or their current state of mind... deserves access to the arts. Young Audiences proudly holds arts as direct tools with which young people who are at risk of social and economic distress can escape troubles, expand their learning, and to grow into their futures with more confidence and hope. 

Poet Annette Daniels Taylor is one of many of our artists who work with young people at the Erie County Detention Center. Below are two samples of poems and expressions that she has guided them to creating. 

Names are removed to protect their privacy. 

I Am Smart and Caring

By Z.

I am smart and caring

I wonder how my life will turn out

I hear the wind

I see freedom

I want success

I am smart and caring

I pretend to be alright

I feel like I f’d everything up

I touch people’s lives

I worry that I won’t change

I cry when I unintentionally hurt someone

I am smart and caring

I understand what I do wrong

I say I want to turn my life around

I dream I will change and be successful

I try to change and to do right

I hope I get a chance to show everyone

I am smart and caring

I Am Strong But Stuck

By J.

I am strong but stuck

I wonder when I will make it

I hear my family calling me

I see my siblings looking up to me

I want to be a role model to those watching me

I am strong but stuck

I pretend that I know what’s best

I feel as if my choices might be wrong

I touch the cuffs knowing I can’t take them off

I worry I’ll be stuck for eternity

I cry that I won’t make it home

I am strong but stuck

I understand that my mistakes are on me

I say I will change and do right

I dream my father will forgive me

I try to prove to my family that I will do better

I hope it won’t be long before I sleep in my bed and not a cot

Teaching artist Annette Daniels Taylor teaches creative writing with youth from the Young Adult Life Transitions (YALT) at Canisius for Young Audiences’ Rhythm Runs Through It program. Two heartfelt examples, below. 

Arts Partners for Learning serves to connect our arts and cultural community with urban and rural schools. Here, we connected Infinity Visual and Performing Arts with the Allegany-Limestone Central Schools. 

Deb Eck, a collage and visual artist from Infinity Visual and Performing Arts, created the collages below with students from Allegany. 

Through Young Audiences’ Underground Railroad Project residency program, children and families learn about our region’s past and work with exemplary and diverse African American artists. Students participate in workshops that feature history, writing, theatre, geography, and music, including “Letters from the Underground,” “Poetry Word Train,” and “Mapping the Road to Canaan.” 

After looking at slave imagery, including print images from the 1800’s periodicals, paintings from Jacob Lawrence’s “Migration” series, and the historical painting “The Underground Railroad” by Charles T. Weber, students shared words that the imagery brought to mind. Then students were asked to use these words to create a group or individual poem.

Above, a student wrote about the mix of fear and longing he identified with in the stories of runaway slaves.

“I see my people running away. / I don’t run with them, I’m scared so I’ll just stay. / They say they run because they’re scared of Master. / Many get caught, they should have ran faster. / I want to be free but I can’t I’m a slave. / I want to be free in the ocean like a wave.”

See more student writing from the Underground Railroad residency

This 5 to 20 session residency was designed to explore Western New York’s history through ties to the Underground Railroad and performing and literary arts. See more goals below. The residency is designed for grades 4-12.

Find out more about the Underground Railroad Project