With so many teens self-selecting the New Art Center as their preferred safe space and hang out, New Art began providing volunteer opportunities where these young people could feel empowered and learn more about working within the arts.
There are now interns engaged with the New Art Center each term. All interns are supervised by the Education Coordinator and the Studio Manager.
Inclusion Internship
New Art provides supervised job readiness internships for up to four teen and young adult students each term. Interns come through the STRIDE program at Newton North, WISE at Newton South, and Community Connections. These programs support students with autism and related disorders in which learners have significant impairments in the areas of communication, behavior, social skills, academics, and adaptive functioning. They use the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to increase functional living skills, adaptive behaviors, independence, communication, and vocational skills. The New Art Center provides the community based vocational and life skills instruction which is an essential component of this program.
Youth Leadership in the Arts
The interns learn about occupations in the visual arts, including job readiness training in how to maintain a studio and classroom space, create a lesson plan, implement a marketing plan, and provide teaching support. They put all of this learning to work through planning and execution of the Community Cultural Days. Each intern can enroll in one of our teen classes free of charge and present their final projects and portfolios at the end of the internship term.