CMA teen interns worked with Portland-based visiting Artist Rozzell Medina, whose project Public Social University is a forum for idea and skill sharing. The interns selected artists, experts and academics, who came to CMA to lead 10-minute presentations, lectures, lessons, discussions and activities on a topic that they are passionate about. On the day of the event interns played host to a crowd of 150 drop-in visitors on the museum’s free admission Sunday.

Visitors were treated to tango lessons, a remote control movie monster demonstration, a tea tutorial, creative writing workshop, and origami and hair styling activities in our galleries. So many unexpected things were shared and learned.

CMA teen interns will be producing more free community events, called Social Sundays utilizing the creativity of different artists and collaborators on the third Sunday in February, March, and April. Congratulations to our interns on a successful, fun event that the whole community could participate in. Come check out the next Social Sunday @ CMA on February 17, 2013 from 1:00 PM-3:00 PM.

For more information about CMA teen programs please contact Kristin Lantz, School Programs Coordinator at kristin.lantz@cmaohio.org

Art Speaks. Join the Conversation.

Kristin Lantz, School Programs Coordinator

“Teens need a program that will make them believe that something is possible for them.” Dyshawn Underwood – CMA Art Lab Teen Intern

You may have seen one of CMAʼs 15 member strong Art Lab Teen Collective (ALT-C) in the halls of the museum shooting scenes for video projects, asking museum patrons with help filling out questionnaires or working with visiting artists on projects in the galleries. These are the same teens that took over Columbus Museum of Art last spring with fashion shows, live entertainment, street art and other radical forms of museum engagement. See the blog post here for more information about the event.

Columbus Museum of Art is on the cusp of engaging in a transformation of how we work with, program for, engage, value, and support teens in the Columbus community. We believe that continuously developing new ways to authentically engage teens is essential to the mission of CMA and the Center for Creativity as part of our effort to become a resource hub, and catalyst for great things in our community.

How do we inspire teens? What changes do we need to make in our museum community to make teen programing even better? How do we encourage teens in our Columbus community to be involved with the CMA? These are just some of the questions we set out to explore with some insightful members of the CMA community by hosing a teen focus group.

The focus group is a dynamic and integral part of our museumʼs effort to create great new teen programming. On Thursday July 26th a few ALT-C teens gathered in the Center for Creativityʼs Innovation Lab to zero in on what CMA could do to support teens to feel connected to their community, to be eager to learn, and to feel empowered to create positive change.

Weʼll do our best to make them proud. Look as new teen programs, inspired by this teen focus group, roll out this Fall.

For more information about CMA teen programs please contact Kristin Lantz, School Programs Coordinator at kristin.lantz@cmaohio.org or (614) 270-3501.

Art Speaks. Join the Conversation.

Kristen Lantz, School Programs Coordinator

Thirteen teens set out to change the way you experience the Columbus Museum of Art.

Art Lab is a teen internship program at the Columbus Museum of Art. Our interns from The Arts and College Preparatory Academy, Focus Learning Academy, and Columbus Alternative High School worked all year long to plan a day of events and programming that truly engaged their community.

The Art Lab teens were challenged with thinking about alternative learning environments, making everyone feel welcome in a museum and how the museum can be relevant to everyone’s lives, including teens.

Can people change how we interact with art in a museum setting? Our Art Lab teens think so. They examined the perception of teens in roles of power and responsibility, inclusiveness of museums, and what real community engagement at museums can look like.

We brought our Art Lab interns in on a recent Sunday to put their plans into action. They were on a mission to create a museum experience like none other.

Tommy found that parts of the museum seemed inaccessible so created a barrier to artwork. Latisha and Jessica included a fashion show to the museum halls. All garments were inspired by trends seen in the artwork of the museum. Aaron played live music throughout the museum. Jarred curated an exhibition with five urban artists. Jacob created a recorded sound scape for CMA’s New Materials Gallery.

It was quite the engaging Sunday! We are lucky to have our museum embrace youth as valued guests, to highlight their creative learning processes, and to embark on a future of informal learning and alternative ways of thinking about museum experiences.

What will our teen interns bring in the 2012-2013 school year? Well that is a question for a new group of teens with fresh ideas.

To be continued…

“Before Art Lab I did not feel like I had a place in the museum. I was nervous to interact with the art or engage in talking with people about art. Now I feel like those boundaries have been taken down.” – Tommy Bowen

For more information about the Art Lab teen program please contact Kristin Lantz at kristin.lantz@cmaohio.org.

Art Speaks. Join the Conversation.

Kristin Lantz, School Programs Coordinator

Utilizing the power of photography to engage teens in socially relevant conversations, the Columbus Museum of Art’s Columbus In Focus program invites students from two Columbus City high schools, Linden McKinley and Marion Franklin, to examine the rich history of Columbus and document it during the Columbus Bicentennial. With these photographs, students invite you into their world as they uncover their communities past, confront today’s most pressing issues, and explore their place in their city and the world at large.

This years participants also looked to extend their reach into the community. Three students from Linden McKinley helped create QR Code plaques that are installed in locations thoughout Columbus. These plaques direct viewers to their exhibition at CMA and online resources located on this page.

To see more student work please visit the Columbus In Focus Flickr Group or check out the Columbus Underground story on the Columbus In Focus program.

The work the In Focus students created is on view at CMA May 3 – September 8, 2012. Columbus In Focus will also dovetail with CMA’s Radical Camera exhibition, which highlights the work of the Photo League, the pioneering documentary photography movement of the 1930s and 1940s. For more information about the Columbus In Focus teen photography program please contact Kristin Lantz at kristin.lantz@cmaohio.org.

The Focus program is generously supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and Puffin Foundation West, Ltd.

Art Speaks. Join the Conversation.

Kristin Lantz, School Programs Coordinator