{"id":7056,"date":"2014-12-03T03:45:58","date_gmt":"2014-12-03T11:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/?p=7056"},"modified":"2014-12-09T11:20:25","modified_gmt":"2014-12-09T19:20:25","slug":"community-teens-remix-a-national-art-museum-in-dc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/community-teens-remix-a-national-art-museum-in-dc\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Teens Remix a National Art Museum in DC"},"content":{"rendered":"

You wouldn\u2019t necessarily expect the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden<\/a>\u2014an arm of the Smithsonian Institution\u2014to be a teen hangout spot. Museums have a reputation for attracting a very different kind of crowd\u2014older, for one, according to museum consultant Nina Simon in \u201cThe Participatory Museum<\/a>.\u201d But museums like the Hirshhorn are reaching out to young people<\/a>\u2014with benefits for the museum and far beyond.<\/p>\n

Situated behind the Hirshhorn is ARTLAB+<\/a>, a free digital arts studio for teens that opened in 2010. ARTLAB+, a member of the YOUMedia Network<\/a>, an\u00a0Educator Innovator\u00a0<\/em>partner, describes itself as a \u201cradically inclusive space\u201d\u2014one where teens can explore their interests and values in a welcoming environment.<\/p>\n

In honor of the Hirshhorn\u2019s 40th anniversary, ARTLAB+ has created seven weeks of teen programming that challenges traditional ideas of what museums are all about.<\/p>\n

Rather than ushering teens through the exhibits and essentially telling them how to think about art, the staff at ARTLAB+ are engaging teens in deeper ways. They\u2019re inviting teens to interact with the museum\u2019s collection and create art in response to and inspired by the works on view. The goal is to allow teens to feel what it\u2019s like to be both critical consumers and innovative creators.<\/p>\n

As a museum that focuses on contemporary art, the Hirshhorn is well positioned to reach teens. \u201cThere\u2019s this great opportunity to be able to speak to the issues of our time,\u201d said Ryan Hill, the Hirshhorn\u2019s director of digital learning and ARTLAB+. Contemporary artists often deal with subjects like identity, sexuality, gender, race, and class\u2014many of the same issues teens grapple with as they try to make their place in the world.<\/p>\n

In general, making art can be an antidote to youth disengagement and apathy. \u201cThe artistic process is the process of thinking critically about what you\u2019re doing,\u201d Hill said. According to the National Guild for Community Arts Education’s\u00a0guide to engaging adolescents<\/a>, that process helps young people solve problems, express themselves, develop confidence, and become more civically engaged.<\/p>\n

Like its regular programming, ARTLAB+ programming for the Hirshhorn\u2019s anniversary encourages teens to flex their artistic muscles through various mediums. On Photo Design Tuesdays, for example, teens study pictures of the Hirshhorn and the surrounding area. The hook is that the pictures were taken in the 1970s. The task for teens is to take corresponding photographs matching the original photos\u2019 perspectives, compositions, and lighting as closely as possible. The exercise also turns their attention to how the area has changed over the years.<\/p>\n

Certain days of the week are more hi-tech. On Game Design Wednesday, teens curate virtual galleries\u2014and they walk through them using the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s a real entry point into a technology we\u2019re going to see more and more of in the future,\u201d Hill said.<\/p>\n

Along with giving teens the opportunity to respond to the Hirshhorn\u2019s works, ARTLAB+ workshops meet a serious need by helping them build their social capital with digital media. Many of ARTLAB+ regulars come from Ward 8, an under-resourced, high-poverty<\/a> area in southeastern Washington, D.C. Research<\/a> by the Web Use Project<\/a> at Northwestern University found that among college-age web users, \u201cthose with higher levels of education and of a more resource-rich background use the Web for more \u2018capital-enhancing\u2019 activities\u201d\u2014in other words, activities that might lead to more informed political participation, career advancement, or better knowledge of financial and health services.<\/p>\n

ARTLAB+ strives to empower teens by helping them master digital tools through art\u2014and helping them use those tools to advance themselves both educationally and professionally. When the teens get excited about certain technologies (whether digital single-lens reflex cameras, green screens, or 3D-design software), Hill and his colleagues find opportunities for them to use those tools in the real world, where they can get credit or get paid. In that way, the Hirshhorn is not only helping teens see their future, but is seeding communities like Ward 8 with human capital and creativity. Thought not itself located in Ward 8, in some ways, the Hirshhorn could be thought of as fostering a form of \u201ccreative placemaking<\/a>\u201d\u2014revitalizing a neighborhood through creative talents just as projects like Project Row Houses<\/a> in Houston and Theaster Gates\u2019s work<\/a> in Chicago do.<\/p>\n

As Hill described it, by connecting teens with these opportunities, ARTLAB+ helps ensure that one privileged group of people isn\u2019t \u201calways having the technology and always making the stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

By Barbara Ray and Maya Itah\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of ARTLAB+\/\u00a0Jane Drozd<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You wouldn\u2019t necessarily expect the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden\u2014an arm of the Smithsonian Institution\u2014to be a teen hangout spot. Museums have a reputation for attracting a very different kind of crowd\u2014older, for one, according to museum consultant Nina Simon in \u201cThe Participatory Museum.\u201d But museums like the Hirshhorn are reaching out to young people\u2014with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":7063,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,397],"tags":[398,568,391,580,78,82,392,341,175],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7056"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7056"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7151,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7056\/revisions\/7151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}