Teen Ambassadors Program

Official Tumblr of the Teen Ambassadors Program at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art. si.edu/Termsofuse

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Teen Ambassador Majula shares what she #didntknowmuseums

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On December 19, join us for a Teen Takeover of the National Museum of African Art. Featuring teen-led art workshops, teen-selected film screening, teen artist performances, an open mic station, and game stations of video games and board games relating to African art and culture. 

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On October 17, several local teens joined the museum staff and artist Robbin Ami Silverberg for a workshop centered on the theme of Artists’ Books for Social Justice. In the morning, the teens participated in an interactive tour of the Artists’ Books and Africa exhibit, including hearing from Robbin firsthand about her contribution to the exhibit, Emandulo Recreation (http://africa.si.edu/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/artists-books-and-africa/exquisite-corpses/ ) and discussing the ways that artists responded both individually and collectively to issues of social justice. Over lunch, we discussed social issues in our own community, and the students spend the afternoon creating works responding to these issues. Student work centered on themes such as the history of racism in the United States, Islamophobia, gender identity and urban violence. Students left the Museum empowered with the skills to use art to make a statement about an issue that they cared about after a fun day learning from an artist currently showing in the exhibit. 

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We’ve been quiet here in Teen Ambassadors, but that hasn’t mean we haven’t been busy. This past week, Teen Ambassadors volunteered with workshops for a local nonprofit, Generation Hope! We love community service!

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It’s been in a busy last week of summer at the Museum! On Tuesday, four of our Teen Ambassadors interviewed artist Ato Malinda for a special video, which will be released on the website in a few weeks. Yesterday, Teen Ambassador Valeria led a tour in French for a group of campers in an immersion program. We are so grateful that everyone shared their skills this week.

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Teen Ambassador Amyra spent time in the library today! What resources do you use Smithsonian Libraries from Smithsonian Libraries? 

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This week, we had a dinner party with conversation themed around diversity with some visiting museum fellows from the Minnesota Historical Society. We had a great cultural food experience, fun networking and a great conversation on how we could make the museum field more diverse. 

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This week, our teens had an opportunity to lead an arts program for the African Immigrant and Refugee Foundation! We love giving the opportunity for teens to serve as mentors for other students.

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Last week, four of our great Teen Ambassadors Steven, Eleni, Amanda and Drew gave a fantastic tour! Email Youth Engagement Coordinator Alli Hartley at [email protected] if you’d like to book a Teen Tour.

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Teen Ambassador Sage has been volunteering with our mountmaker Keith this summer! He learned how to catalog museum objects and designed prototype mounts! Go Sage

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Meet Taylor.

Taylor was born in the District of Columbia, and currently resides in Maryland. As a rising junior at Duval High School she participates in a variety of clubs and activities in school as well as in her community. These activities include: the mock trial team, debate team, softball team, and ambassador for her school’s graphic design, media, and communication’s academy. Outside of school Taylor works at her local church to help with youth programs. She also writes for LOVE girls magazine as a staff writer in Washington, D.C. She is well known for her ambitious attitude and strong leadership qualities which she uses inside and outside of school. In her free time she likes analyzing exhibits and visiting modern art galleries in D.C. Taylor became interested in art at a young age due to artistic influences of her mother. As she got older she started becoming more fascinated with African art and began challenging herself as an artist. For years she has been creating oil paintings as well as pastel drawings and is now studying photography. Taylor aspires to study abroad in college where she’ll study journalism and art history.

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Teen Ambassadors Taylor and Amanda have some fun with Deborah Bell’s The Annunciation in our African Mosaics exhibit here at the National Museum of African Art!

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Meet Eleni.

Eleni is a Senior at Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, VA. She is an AP/IB student with a special interest in english and history. She spends her free time reading, writing, playing soccer, and on the Internet. She is an Editor at Penman, her school’s award-winning literary magazine, vice-president of the World Wildlife Protection Club at her school, and a starting defender on the Rowdies White travel soccer team. She speaks French at the upper intermediate level, has experience programming in Python, Java, and JavaScript, and is a very strong reader. She has a strong appreciation and love for art and museums. Eleni plans to attend college after graduating from W-L. Her top choice schools are Johns Hopkins University and the College of William and Mary.

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The two week training has been completed for these teens!! They just have a few more things to complete before they are full fledged teen ambassadors. We, here at the museum, couldn't be more proud!

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Check it out!!! Last week, here at the National Museum of African Art, the teens took part in a collaborative poem that encouraged them to look closely at objects in “The Divine Comedy” exhibit and write as they were inspired by what they saw. The result was a beautiful poem with unique contributions from each person. 

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Meet Naomi.

Naomi is a rising junior at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart. She was born in Washington DC and currently lives there. She likes to draw, paint and write. She is an avid reader and a “behind-the-scenes” leader at her school. She is an editor for her school arts magazine, Callithump, as well as the recording secretary for her school’s student diversity board. She plays lacrosse for her school and for a club team. She is also the manager of her school swim team. Naomi wants to go to a good school to major in journalism and minor in fine arts to become an entertainment journalist and a freelance artist.

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Meet Majula.

Majula was born in Maryland and moved to The Gambia, West Africa, when she was 3 years old. She now lives in Maryland. She is currently a senior in high school and spends her free time reading, writing, going to worldly art galleries and museums as well as doing volunteer work. Majula is social and has spent a lot of time doing public speaking and taking various positions of leadership at her school. She is not athletic at all and hates sports but she loves people and finds joy in helping them. She plans on going to college to become a human rights lawyer.