create your future…
We’re excited to welcome a new cohort of five Emerging Artists in our Create Your Opportunity (CYO) program, which provides high school youth with the tools to develop and use their creative voices to engage with their community. We’ll be introducing them and sharing their work over the coming months!
During the academic year, Emerging Artists are mentored by FYACS staff and local artists in their mediums. The teens have an open invitation to attend weekly Teen Open Studio time to work on their portfolios and may receive paid commissions from partners in the community.
This 2024/25 fellowship will support a select group of high school artists as they develop their portfolios and engage with the community through their art. Students will:
- Challenge and refine their creative skills with a group of peers and mentorship from working artists
- Have the opportunity to receive feedback in creating a body of work for advanced education/employment
- Connect with the community through their artwork with a commissioned piece
- Be part of a year end student show at the Follow Your Art Gallery in May 2025
Read the 2023 Press Release about launching the program and introducing the first cohort of students for 2023/2024.
The 2024/25 Emerging Artist Spotlights tells more about each artist.
Create Your Opportunity is made possible by YouthReach, a grant awarded by Mass Cultural Council for Creative Youth Development programs. Learn more about the CYO program
“The Portrait Project was a wonderful experience to be involved with. Both activism and art are topics I am very passionate about individually, and I loved being able to combine the two with this project!”
More About the Emerging Artist Fellowship
FYA has always hosted a weekly Open Studio for teens. It has been a time for youth artists to come together, learn from each other, and ask for feedback on work as they develop their creative voice. By design, open studio was unstructured.
We are aware of the disparities present as art students with an interest advanced education or employment in the visual arts look for ways to build their skills and develop their creative voice. We have built a semi-structured one year program that provides individualized mentoring to support these goals.
The Emerging Artist Fellowship of the Create Your Opportunity program is open to students in Melrose, Malden, Medford, Revere, Saugus, Stoneham and Wakefield and other surrounding communities. We especially encourage artists from traditionally marginalized groups (people of color, people who are LGBTQ, people with disabilities, people who are neurodivergent) to apply.
Get Ready for What’s Next
Create Your Opportunity is made possible by YouthReach, a grant awarded by Mass Cultural Council for Creative Youth Development programs.
