Bay Area Art Stars is a project conceived in 2017 and launched in 2019 by a group of artists/educators working closely with a group of refugee/asylee young people in Oakland, CA. Art Stars is a arts-based program that operates at many levels: it nurtures the creativity and artistic skills of newcomers ages 5-12, provides paid leadership development and teaching experience to high school-aged Young Teaching Artists (YTAs), and also develops the YTAs own skills as artists and curators.