We hosted a couple self-discovery classes for youth. They came for an afternoon/evening of easy going art fun, snacks, and open conversation. I wanted to create a space where they felt comfortable and could be themselves. The most challenging part was to figure out how to advertise and market the workshop, in a way that would be exciting and interesting to youth; and make them want to attend. The goal was to start with the first sessions, with the support of this grant money, and try some more workshops in the new year. I’m hoping through word of mouth, the youth who did enjoy the session, will attend the next ones, and will bring friends and share with peers as well!
The workshop began with some art games/activities, to get everyone feeling comfortable, and to start a no-pressure, fun, and silly art activity. When you’re able to show there’s no right or wrong in art, it allows us to feel more comfortable to express ourselves, to play and to have fun with the medium; and also to worry less about the final product and simply enjoy the process of creating! We then had an open art project with basic guidelines, but open-ended, so they could explore their own ideas with minimal direction. While participating in this project, we had open discussions. I have a set of cards with interactive questions that we would rotate through to share about ourselves to one another or to discover things about ourselves we maybe didn’t realize. At times, I’d allow the youth to ask me questions they wanted to ask me, or bring up topics for group discussion. Sometimes it would lead to further discussion amongst the group, other times we’d get everyone to have a turn to speak, then we’d pick the next one. The main goal was to open up to one another, remind ourselves that we’re all not that different, and we all have similarities, but also to help build confidence and support in ourselves individually, while also as a collective group.
This is a new workshop style I’ve been wanting to try, so I definitely learned a lot from it! It seems most who attended said it was fun, and they seemed to be enjoying themselves during the session. Others mentioned they enjoyed being able to talk openly and have a safe space for discussion. Some were definitely a bit more timid, and I wonder if having smaller groups would be slightly easier, or even one-on-one sessions, for those attendees. Some liked having a more open-ended, unknown art project to do during discussion time. Others stated they’d prefer knowing ahead of time, the specific art project they would be doing that session. From this information, I believe that the best option for next time, is to give enough variety of different types of workshops: one with a specific project planned and advertised, one with a smaller group, one with an open-ended unknown project, and maybe one for the more talkative teens.
All in all, this was a great experience, and I’m excited to start hosting more events/workshops similar to this in the upcoming year! Thank you for supporting my idea, we enjoyed hosting it!
