Partner Placement: Arts @ Large
Sam Kacala from Arts @ Large
What’s your name, organization and role? And how many council members do you host?
My name is Sam Kacala, and I’m the education manager for Arts @ Large. We are currently hosting three youth council members.
What have you learned from working alongside youth in decision-making spaces?
The youth have made me more aware of the fact that adults and youth can enter spaces in similar ways. From the excitement to the anxiety, it all fills the room and shares space. From that awareness, I’ve gathered that something as simple as a conversation-based approach can be extremely effective.
Can you share an example of how a young person’s perspective shaped or influenced your team’s work?
Our AYC leaders created our first youth-designed Career Development internship track for the school year: the “Streets With A Story” short film project. (See below for more details.)
How has this placement challenged or expanded your understanding of youth leadership?
It has shifted my focus for sure. It’s something I bring up in conversations about our work often. I think for Career Development to take on a youth-led approach this year will be exciting. They will develop an entire exhibit in March around the topic Exploring the Future of Milwaukee by Taking a Look at the Stories of Its Past and Present, which is directly based on the AYC’s project design.
What strengths or insights have you noticed youth bringing to the table?
They can fill the space with a sense of “play”. When their creative process isn't comparative or graded, the ideas are free and the questions are honest. In the case of our summer camp, (which the AYC members were not able to interact with) the interns are pretty free of logistics/admin work, and are able to make much better connections with the younger youth than most (if not all) adult staff. They are truly an invaluable part of the process.
What reflections can you share on the experience as a whole?
The experience so far with our AYC members has been phenomena!. When the program started, I wasn’t exactly sure what the impact would be, but along the way there have been both direct and indirect influences on our organization. Our AYC members, Eva, Lola and Max have designed the “Streets With A Story” film project that will serve as one of two youth-led tracks for our yearly Career Development program. The other is a collaborative studio exploring the future of Milwaukee with returning interns, also a track that is indirectly influenced by the power of the AYC member’s decision-making, and putting that trust in our other interns as well.
With the Mobile Media Lab being new for us as an organization, the AYC members designing a pilot Career Development project for the year was definitely a success. It may have even exceeded expectations. Specifically, their ability to build out a full proposal for our staff and complete initial video clips, a PowerPoint presentation and a flyer for the project. Hearing our marketing specialist leave the proposal meeting saying “I wish things like that happened more” was a nice reminder that things were going well.
Arts @ Large is committed to providing equitable access to art experiences. Of course, this involves a fair amount of youth programming inside and outside of schools, but I think with a focus on the term “youth-led”, there is opportunity within our mission to look deeper. This program scratched the surface for us as to how art experiences can amplify youth voice, and how well art and youth leadership pair together. Our organization puts a lot of trust in its staff to design and implement programming, and so the AYC’s impact will continue to enter our meetings and conversations into the future.