CINCINNATI — Studies show that art helps teens better express themselves while decreasing anxiety and enhancing cognitive abilities.
One new grant is helping a museum in southwest Ohio provide that opportunity to even more teens.
Meet Stephanie Cuyabamaba Kong is a former member of the Contemporary Young Adult Teen Council. During a recent meeting, she created a mini art gallery.
“I have a lot of different materials here like these photographs,” said Cuyabamaba Kong. “So I think it’ll be cool to sort of remix them and reconfigure them into a miniature gallery.”
The Contemporary Young Adult Teen Council, better known as C-YA, is a free yearlong arts program at the Contemporary Arts Center.
Teens get the chance to explore contemporary arts through workshops, gallery tours and planning events.
“Giving that responsibility to teens lets them feel really involved in the museum and like they’re a part of the community,” she said.
The teen council is one of 175 teen-focused programs and events put on by the CAC every year. It’s all free to the public thanks to the $100,000 Museums of America matching grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
“If it wasn’t free I probably wouldn’t have done it,” she said. “It’s so accessible.”
Elizabeth Hardin-Klink, the CAC creative learning director, said she’s excited about the new 3-year grant because it will help with a new paid teen apprenticeship program to gain more real-life experience.
“It’s exciting to have real opportunities to give them because of this grant so that’s where we are seeing most of our growth and also allowed them to extend their positions for staffing,” said Hardin-Klink.
Since graduating from the teen program, Cuyabamaba Kong said it has prepared her for her academic career in fine arts. And with this new grant, she hopes it helps other teens like herself.
“I’m really excited to see what CAC does with more resources and a lot more opportunities,” she said.
