Youth Art Month

Flagstaff Cultural Partners celebrates National Youth Art Month (March) with our annual Youth Celebrate Art & Culture Exhibition and Celebration. Hundreds of local youth participate from every school in the greater Flagstaff area, exhibiting their visual art for the public and performing new works.

You'll be surprised by the vision, quality and power behind this exhibition.

Funding for Youth Art Month comes from Arizona Public Service, the Flagstaff Community Foundation, the City of Flagstaff, and private donors.

2008 Youth Art Month Schedule

Exhibition Opening Reception
Youth Celebrate Art & Culture
Friday, February 29: 4-6pm

Youth Celebrate Art & Culture
Visual arts exhibition will be open to the public during regular Center hours March 1 - 30, 2008.

Celebrations of Culture
Saturday, March 8: show begins at 1pm, with a repeat performance at 4pm. Performances include African drum and dance, acoustic music, Ballet Folklorico, an 80's rock band, spoken word poetry and more! All performers are K-12 students.

Young Voices Be Heard!
Northern Arizona Youth Poetry Festival

March 28-30, 2008
Spoken word festival features workshops for youth, readings by youth, and featured professional poets/writers: Sherwin Bitsui, Mary Sojourner and Stella Pope Duarte. Not to be missed!

~ Listen to our radio ad for the Festival ~

Poetry Festival Schedule

Friday, March 28, 6-8pm:
Opening Reception with Readings by Sherwin Bitsui, Mary Sojourner, and Myrlin Hepworth

Saturday, March 29
10am -12pm:
Workshops* for local youth:
            Creative Writing w/Sherwin Bitsui
            Metaphors All Around w/Christopher Lane
2-4pm:
Workshops* for local youth:
            Young Women Writers w/Mary Sojourner
            Spoken Word Performance w/Myrlin Hepworth

*workshops are open to all K-12 youth in Coconino County
Download the Registration Form (MS Word Doc)

6-8pm:
Youth Poetry Slam! (at Applesauce Tea House, 213 South San Francisco Street, downtown Flagstaff)

Sunday, March 30
10am-12pm:
Reading and Creative Writing Workshop w/Stella Pope Duarte

2pm:
Youth Spoken Word Performances

Produced in partnership with:

APS Supports Youth Art Month in Flagstaff

Arizona Public Service (APS) Community Relations Director, Cindy May, and Flagstaff Division Manager, Michael McElmury, presented a $1,500.00 check to Flagstaff Cultural Partners (FCP) Executive Director, John Tannous, on Wednesday, January 9, 2008, at the Coconino Center for the Arts.

The APS grant funds will support FCP's Youth Art Month programs and events, which directly benefit youth in Flagstaff. The programs sends professional artists to work with many students in direct workshops in the classrooms. Additionally, the program gives local youth both a professional gallery to present their artwork, and a stage to perform before the community.

The Youth Art Month programs at FCP have had many years of success, dating back to the re-opening of the Coconino Center for the Arts in 1999. Nearly every school in the greater Flagstaff community participates in the program.

APS funding in 2008 supports a new program within Youth Art Month: the Northern Arizona Youth Poetry Festival. This project sends professional poets to classrooms to work directly with adolescents in Flagstaff. The students are given the tools to turn their written poetry into spoken word performances - giving the students new ways of expressing themselves in a positive way.

Participating students then have the opportunity to perform their spoken word pieces in front of a community audience at the Coconino Center for the Arts during the Youth Poetry Festival weekend. Acclaimed poets/authors, Sherwin Bitsui, Mary Sojourner and Stella Pope Duarte, will participate at the Festival and conduct workshops with local youth on writing, spoken word, and more.

Flagstaff Cultural Partners salutes APS for their support of Youth Art Month and investment in the future of Flagstaff.