Local youth who are interested in pursuing a future in photography, film and other visual media are invited to participate in a weekly series that aims to provide participants with the tools to one day begin a career in the arts.
Venice Arts is a nonprofit organization that seeks to amplify the voices of underrepresented communities around the world by providing low-income youth with photography and film education.
“We believe society should be more equitable and inclusive so we have a mentoring program, which covers a range of media arts classes for youth who are ages 10- to 18-years-old,” said Carly Short, Venice Arts’ Lead Filmmaker and Creative Pathways Coordinator.
“And those are typically after-school classes that are historically held in-person but since we’re all at home, currently, we are offering five different online classes that will cover topics like film, photography and comics,” Short said. “And this artist series is considered another one of those classes that we’re having as part of the program that I oversee, which is called the Creative Pathways Program and that tries to provide students with workshops, mentoring and other forms of college and creative career readiness support.”
Launched last week, Venice Arts’ weekly Remote Visiting Artist Series runs from 4-5 p.m. every Wednesday, “and it’s basically an online version of what we normally would have and cover in our programs,” Short said.
“We usually have a Creative Career Day where we invite a panel of artists and creative professionals who come and talk to our students in a big group setting,” Short said, sharing Venice Arts’ had previously scheduled their big event in March, when safer-at-home orders were first starting. “As things changed with COVID-19, I got an idea to adapt the Career Day program into a weekly arts series with the four artists that I had booked for the Creative Career Day event. We had the first one last week and it was really successful.”
“The series is basically what we’d be doing in person,” Short added, mentioning the program is marketed to residents who are between the ages of 12- and 24-years-old.
“It’s geared towards a youth audience and people who want to find a career in the arts, but we definitely invite families and friends to attend too,” Short said, sharing how many students have invited their classmates and cousins to join in on the fun.
“We just booked another artist and photographer so we’re extending it all the way into May,” Short said. The next chat is set for Wednesday, April 29, and will feature director Anthony Mandler.
Anybody who is interested in participating can RSVP by sending an email to info@venice-arts.org with “Artist Series” in the subject line. More information can be found online at the website venicearts.org.
brennon@smdp.com
