Youth need the arts. They need a safe space to innovate, create, and call their own. We’ve always dreamed (and dreamed) that one day we would have our own Youth Art Exchange space. After 18 years of borrowing, sharing, and popping up in spaces throughout San Francisco, our dream is coming true. We incredible excited to announce that we are launching an arts space in San Francisco for public high school youth. During months of looking, we found the perfect spot: Chuck’s Market - a neighborhood meat market on the corner of Mission Street and Geneva Avenue that has been closed for 8 years. We’ve been cleaning, painting, and hauling to convert the space into a youth-run gallery, print shop, artist lounge, and media lab and we are building artist studios with our partner ArtSpan. Help us finish the transformation from a meat market to an arts hub!
[x]space, launching in the fall of 2018, will be an interactive art making and exhibition space accessible to youth and community members of all ages. The “x” in [x]space is related to exchange, experimentation, Excelsior, and x as a variable. Through this space, we are going to expand the arts in the Excelsior by creating a dynamic arts space focused on creative exchange between our youth artists and community.
The activation of [x]space will be transformative for YAX and for San Francisco, enabling us to better serve our existing program participants and significantly expand access to additional programming that occurs on-site to serve people of all ages and backgrounds. We’re rolling up the shutters covering the storefront and making youth-led community change happen.
Share our story and stay tuned for more pics and updates as we make this happen!
Thank you to our funders: Office of Economic and Workforce Development, Department of Children Youth and their Families, Excelsior Collaborative, California Arts Council, and Grants for the Arts.
(Youth Art Exchange is fiscally sponsored by Tides Center.)
