#tedyouth

[gregangelo]

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[youthcorps]

Youth Corps at TEDYouth 2015

By Terrelle, Phase II

Photo credit: Ryan Lash, TED

On November 14, 2015, the Park Avenue Armory Youth Corps went to the TEDYouth Conference. 

Youth Corps are a group of New York City public high school students that are immersed in the art and creative processes of the Armory’s artists through paid, project-oriented internships that provide job and career training, leadership development, and essential communication and life skills. TEDYouth is a day-long event for teens with live speakers and hands-on activities, and it is a highly exclusive event in which teens only could attend by applying and being accepted.

This year’s theme for TEDYouth was “Made in the Future: 2035.”  We applied to attend the conference because of our work on the upcoming Armory production called Goldberg, featuring performance artist Marina Abramović’s famous Abramović Method which promotes being present and unplugging, in this case, around pianist Igor Levit playing Bach’s Goldberg Variations. We knew attending TEDYouth would further our knowledge about what the future may be like technology-wise, which would help us better understand the idea of unplugging.

TEDYouth was also an eye opener career-wise, and the four of us Youth Corps who were accepted greatly appreciated the opportunity to go to the conference. Our personal favorite experience was how we got to personally meet these speakers and learn more about their careers.  Over 30 presenters touched on the fact that we may never know what the future may hold until we get there, but it's clear that technology will play a big role.

Photo credit: Ryan Lash, TED

As we keep working on our semester project, we can say that TED gave us very useful information on being creative and innovative without the use of just your cell phone. We can do so much if we “unplug” and put down the social media updates. One specific speaker from Disney Imagineering really expressed that the mind of children today is incredibly wonderful, and in the future we will probably overcome many mind-boggling headaches by trying to think of simple solutions. Another speaker, Ishita Katyal, said: “When we focus only on dreams and ambitions for the future, we forget about present actions and goals.” She wrote her first book at only 10 years old. She said that instead of asking youth “What do you want to be in the future?” We should ask: “What do you want to be now?” 

As you can see, TEDYouth filled our minds with inspiration. We can’t wait to share these ideas with our fellow Youth Corps, friends, and Armory staff.

[teded]

Team TED-Ed is so excited to share this fun little video we made this weekend at #TEDYouth, where we got to animate the attendees! Here’s our street scene of the future - enjoy!

Read more about the process here.

[youthcorps]

Youth Corps Apply for TEDYouth 2015

We are the Park Avenue Armory Youth Corps interns, who support the Armory’s mission to showcase unconventional art that’s never been seen before. We want to attend the TEDYouth Conference to bring our ideas, creativity, and out-of-the-box thinking to our generation—now and in the future.

Here at Park Avenue Armory, we strive to showcase artistic talents and bring something new to the table. The Armory's mission is: “to revitalize a landmark building as a center for unconventional works in the performing and visual arts, while simultaneously maintaining and restoring the historic aspects of the building.”  As we preserve the Armory itself so that it stands for many years, we Youth Corps are also looking into the future and discovering ways the building and the art we show can help others experience art and creativity.

WHO ARE YOUTH CORPS?

Youth Corps is a group of high school students who develop leadership, communication, and life skills at the Armory.

The Summer 2015 Youth Corps interns.

This means we explore and research the many different types of art such as visual art, dance, music, theater, and more and think about what art can tell us about culture, society, issues, and ourselves. This semester our project is technology, and the future.

Youth Corps present their research on art and culture.

We are used to challenging ourselves to create projects that combine many different themes. For example, this summer we were inspired by Tree of Codes, a contemporary ballet which was performed in Park Avenue Armory this fall, by Wayne McGregor, Olafur Eliasson, and Jamie xx. 

Youth Corps members Sinaia and Angela at Olafur Eliasson’s “Collectivity Project.”

For example, we visited Olafur Eliasson’s installation known as “The Collectivity Project” at the High Line to expand our knowledge, research all about it, and see his artwork in person.

Then we created our own pieces of art using only books and papers that related to Tree of Codes. Pushing boundaries with our projects led us to create unique and abstract artwork to depict a specific theme we chose.

One of our final projects this summer inspired by Tree of Codes.

That is what Youth Corps love to do, starting off with an object so plain, and inventing something more thought-provoking and different than anything you could have imagined. Youth Corps believe if we are accepted to the TEDYouth Conference, we can lead you all to that path of thinking outside of the box and imagining how our generation will be in the future.

So, who are Youth Corps? We are diligent, hardworking teenagers who are interested in opening everyone’s imaginations and minds. If we can do that here in the Armory, then it would be an honor to share our minds with a bigger crowd in this conference. And we want to bring back what we learn to other Youth Corps and the Armory staff.

(We are also adaptable and know that if something doesn’t go right the first time, we should just try again... like when we were making the GIFs for this blog post and Sinaia took a tumble. Don’t worry, she is OK!)

WHY SHOULD WE ATTEND TEDYOUTH?

We wanted you to hear our voices, so we recorded the reasons why we should attend. Just click play:

Thank you for considering our application!

—Terrelle, Guycardine, Sinaia, Angela, and Isatu (Phases I + II)

*For regular readers: Park Avenue Armory Youth Corps are applying to attend 2015 TEDYouth Conference. We decided to make a creative, multimedia application on our Tumblr.

[tedxyouthub]

[tedxyouthub]

[tedxyouthub]

Design by Tushig Togtokh

[ted]

What would you do if you ruled the world? We're asking young people around the world in honor of TEDYouth and TEDxYouthDay, our tribute to youth-driven creativity and innovation.

This year's theme is Worlds Imagined, so in the spirit of that, we're asking people across the globe to finish the sentence: If I ruled the world ...

Participate here and download the sign (in 11 languages!) >>