Southern Exposure's Artists in Education Program

SoEx’s nationally recognized Artists in Education (AIE) program brings together diverse youth, artists, schools and organizations in a dynamic series of interactions, experiences, conversations and collaborations. AIE offers youth enriching opportunities for critical, artistic, vocational and cultural experiences beyond the traditional school and home environment. It also presents professional teaching opportunities for local emerging artists, enabling them to become arts educators and extending their practice into the community. Sparking a dialog on contemporary artistic practice and sociopolitical issues, AIE illustrates the role of artists in society and uses the conceptual underpinnings of SoEx’s exhibition programs to provide new means of expression for youth. Each year, SoEx works with more than 150 youth between the ages of 12 and 21 and employs more than 20 teaching artists. In the age of decreased art-centered curricula in public schools and a lack of positive, creative outlets for youth, AIE fills a crucial need in the community.

Youth Advisory Board

Youth Advisory Board (YAB) meets bi-weekly to explore relevant issues through analytical conversations, media explorations and collaborative art production. The Youth Advisory Board is a youth-driven after-school program where students, aged 12-21, collaborate with professional artists to produce art exhibitions at SoEx for the community. For each new spring and fall semester, 2 new teaching artists and an intern work with 15-20 students from all over the bay to produce a collaborative project that addresses relevant issues in the lives of its youth members and the community at large.

The One-On-One Mentorship Program

The One-On-One Mentorship Program pairs passionate youth artists, from the ages of 16-21, with professional artist mentors, who provide guidance, develop goals, and share skills, knowledge and expertise with the mentee over the course of a year. The mentorship program is geared toward students who have demonstrated excellence in an art medium, but don’t have access to the necessary tools, concepts and guidance that are crucial to an artist’s creative growth. Youth are paired with a professional artist in their medium of interest, which ranges from photography, video production, sculpture, painting, animation, digital media or whatever medium the mentee chooses. Pairs work develop a group exhibition to showcase the artistic developments of each of the youth members. The exhibition gives individuals in the program a goal to focus on throughout the year, as well as a time to highlight their creative developments and achievements.

Mission Voices Summer

SoEx’s Mission Voices Summer (MVS) program works with 35 youth and 6 teaching artists in a 3-week summer intensive program which runs for four hours a day, Monday through Friday. MVS draws on multiple art practices and utilizes different forms of media enabling an array of mediums and techniques to be explored over the course of the program. Over the course of the program, youth artists collaborate with teaching artists to produce 3 art projects unified under a central theme that is developed in collaboration. At the end of the session, the projects are presented together to the community in a public exhibition in our gallery.

The Youth Advisory Board Internship Program

The YAB Internship Program is a multi-disciplinary youth engagement and job preparedness program featuring a dynamic learning environment, real world non-profit experience, and arts education practice for youth interested in developing professional work experience. Students work with SoEx staff to develop community projects while exploring multimedia production including DSLR video production and editing, sound mixing, photography and web creation. The mission of the program is to provide internship venue that challenges youth to learn and become involved with their community through special projects, leadership development, nonprofit and vocational experience.