We are very excited to be starting a brand new youth program in collaboration with Ringling College of Art and Design and the Newtown Community Health Action Team (CHAT).

The program will incorporate photojournalism, life skills, self-examination and self-expression, computer design work, and a final exhibition and achievement ceremony.  We are aiming at 12 to 18 year olds who will initially be provided with cameras to begin looking at their world from a different point of view.

Through brainstorming sessions with Ringing College student volunteers, our participants will develop a t-shirt design based on their world view and hopes for the future.  They will participate in an Intro to Process/Techniques session, and develop their designs through another session on composition and color study.  The next exciting step will be re-interpreting their ideas on the computer gaining skills in basic Photoshop.  After the 4th formal session, our participants will have developed an artist statement and have a design that will be printed onto a t-shirt.  The final exhibition will show off their accomplishments to their family and friends in the community.

We're looking forward to this Saturday when the Ringling volunteers and the SCLO youth will meet for the first time, informally, at a bar-b-que at Whittaker Park.  The next step will be a tour of Ringling College on Wednesday, and the first hands-on work session will be on November 6th.