What is LOOK! Albany Center Gallery's Youth Art Program Series?
LOOK! is a year-round workshop series for youth interested in the arts with organizations and young creative professionals of the Capital Region. Through collaboration with local artist mentors and their personal creative voices, the youth produce artwork of a myriad of mediums and varieties. Each youth has the opportunity to come up with their own concept and together, we help make their visions come to life. Each year the program grows to meet the art needs of the community. In 2021, we have already exponentially expanded our LOOK! Program, with several more projects under way.
All the partnerships for LOOK! are held with women-, Black-, or women of color- led organizations. ACG wants to also ensure that underrepresented communities and individuals (for example, youth of color, as this is a population often overlooked by arts institutions) are receiving opportunities for thoughtful, free art activities. LOOK! adds vibrant color and activates spaces while creating sustainable lessons in teamwork, professionalism, literacy, and creativity. Art uplifts and inspires. The more art that is everywhere, the more demand and acceptance for an artfully vibrant Albany and beyond there will be.
Youth Art Programs
LOOK! 2021: RISSE & ACG Youth Summer Program
ACG teamed up with RISSE (Refugee and Immigrant Support Services of Emmaus) for a 4 week long youth art program lead by multi-disciplinary artist mentor D. Colin. This art component was an additional element to RISSE’s already existing 6 week long summer program. Artist Mentor Jordan Hill also held an African drumming and dancing class with the participants.
LOOK! 2021: Frank Chapman Memorial Institute Youth Art Program
Albany Center Gallery teamed up with Frank Chapman Memorial Institute with additional support from The RED Bookshelf to bring a new LOOK! Youth Art Program-- led by Artist Mentors Kim Tateo & Sean McLaughlin! Artist mentors Kim & Sean worked with 15-20 students from FCMI to create murals on site filled with the youth’s inspirational, colorful, and uplifting visions.
LOOK! 2021: ArtStreet Youth Art Workshop
ACG partnered with Grand Street Community Arts for the ArtStreet Youth Art Workshop! Youth participants created their own unique art pieces, guided by local artist mentors on a subject or topic of their choosing. Their completed paintings were then shown at the Albany Capital Center in the front lobby of their exhibition, "Michelangelo - A Different View."
LOOK! 2021: The RED Bookshelf 1000 Word Contest
Participants of the contest wrote an essay inspired by a Capital Walls Mural throughout downtown Albany. This community contest was brought to you by The RED Bookshelf, Albany Barn, and Albany Center Gallery. Capital Walls is a partnership between Albany Barn, Albany Center Gallery, and Albany Parking Authority.
LOOK! 2021: Connect Cohoes Youth Art Program
The Connect Center and Albany Center Gallery held a collaborative youth art workshop weekend which was designed to encourage creativity, collaboration, and youth empowerment. We worked together with the Connect Center, youth, the Duane X Arts Foundation, and local artist mentors (D. Colin, DeSean Skillz, and Brian White) to fill the Connect Center with youth created murals. Here’s to more artful walls by the young artists’ of the community!
LOOK! 2020: Summer Youth Employment Program
The youth have workshops by local artist mentors, visit public art, and work closely with each other, and Lead Artist Mentor Eugene O'Neill and ACG Staff. By the end of the program, each participant will have created their very own 4’x8’ moveable mural that will be put in public. More Art Everywhere.
Read more and see photos here.
LOOK! 2019: Corner Canvas
Corner Canvas provides resources for creativity and empowerment to the community and by utilizing the rich cultural assets in the region. This program gives an opportunity for the youth in the community to share their creative imagination and capabilities, through the restructure of vacant buildings and sparse lots. They come together to foster positive change through leading by example, creative expression, and the power of collaboration.
LOOK! 2018: The Art of Recycling
LOOK! gives local youth the opportunity to work with professional artists to explore art centered around a theme; in 2018, that theme was the art of recycling. Kids toured the 2018 Mohawk Hudson Regional Invitational and learned about how artists repurpose found materials to create works of art.
LOOK! 2017: Kids' Eye View ALB
ACG paired members of the Bus Stop Club aged 8-14 with professional photographers for an afternoon exploring and photographing the area around ACG. Then, the high-resolution images were wheat-pasted on the building next door to the arcade on Maiden Lane. The result was a youth-focused public photography project that brightened the space by ACG.
