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Youth Insights: Building an Intergenerational Conversation on American Art and Culture
Over the past decade, museums across the country have taken enormous steps to strengthen community relationships. By developing programs that best meet the needs of their varied constituencies, the museum field has made it a priority to address communities that are often under-served within the traditional paradigm of museum education. While the field as a whole has made tremendous progress in redefining the role of the museum, intergenerational programs that bring together young people, families, and senior citizens are few and far between.
The Whitney Museum of American Art has long offered a wide variety of educational programs to students, teachers, families, and senior citizens. By developing these programs, the Museum has built strong partnerships with community organizations serving each specific constituency. Because the Whitney Museum views itself primarily as a historical institution—our world-renowned Permanent Collection chronicles the development of twentieth-century and contemporary American culture—we are in the unique position of developing an intergenerational program that allows participants of all ages to share their unique stories and perspectives on American national identity and our collective history.
With a strong foundation of existing programs and community relationships already established, the Whitney Museum, along with its community partners, recognizes the importance of creating a rich intergenerational dialogue: these conversations can contribute significantly to a national dialogue on American cultural heritage. In September 1997, the Whitney Museum launched a new programming initiative, Youth Insights: Building an Intergenerational Conversation on American Art and Culture. Youth Insights engages three distinct populations—youth, families, and senior citizens. It is a program that is designed to challenge the traditional paradigm of museum education and create an environment for people whose lives span the twentieth century to come together and learn from each other.
At the core of this new initiative is the identification, selection, and training of a youth corps, who serve at the Whitney Museum as exhibition guides, discussion leaders, and workshop leaders for programs aimed at families, senior citizens, and their peers. Through extensive and rigorous training, this cadre of youth are given the tools and the opportunity to develop their knowledge of American art and culture, as well as their abilities to work with families and senior citizens to build an intergenerational dialogue.
Now in its sixth year, Youth Insights invites fifteen to
twenty high school students to participate in a year-long regimen
of workshops, discussion groups and field excursions, designed
to
transform the participants into museum emissaries. The goals of
Youth Insights are:
- to offer participants a rich contextual opportunity to explore American art and culture
- to provide an in-depth learning experience in which youth participants have the opportunity to develop important life skills--the ability to work with others, to think critically, and to communicate effectively
- to build thoughtful and meaningful conversations among and across generations
- to enhance the museum experience while expanding the Museum's services to youths, senior citizens, and families
- to strengthen relationships between the Whitney Museum and community organizations to better serve a wide range of constituencies
Community Partners
Youth Insights demonstrates the Whitney Museum's commitment
to investing in and expanding its relationships with community
partners. The program brings together the expertise, resources,
needs, and interests of four community organizations and one school
to serve three distinct constituencies: youth, families, and senior
citizens. The community organizations include: the Regent Family
Residence (youth and families); United Neighborhood Houses of New
York (youth, families, and senior citizens); DOROT, Inc. (senior
citizens). The Education Department at the Whitney Museum has had
a long and extensive history working with these organizations.
Each of these community partners offers important perspectives and experiences that the Museum considers essential ingredients for the overall success of Youth Insights.
Since the early 1990s, the Whitney has worked with youths at the
Regent Family Residence, a temporary housing facility, exposing
them to new experiences and opportunities through its art programs
on site and at the Museum and its Branch Museums. Culminating each
semester with an exhibition of student-produced art work, the Regent
program has been one of the Education Department's most successful
community-based programs.
The United Neighborhood Houses (UNH) is an umbrella organization for thirty-seven settlement houses located throughout New York City. Each of these settlement houses is a unique social and activity center for youths, senior citizens, and families, and each offers a range of programs that meet the needs of that particular community. In 1995, the Whitney Museum and the United Neighborhood Houses began working with each other to provide arts programming for senior citizens at the Museum and the settlement houses. In the fall of 1997, the Museum launched a new arts initiative for senior adults--the Whitney/UNH Arts for Seniors Program--at five New York City settlement houses, using the extraordinary resources of the Whitney Museum, and in partnership with staff at these settlement houses to build fuller and richer programs for senior citizens.
DOROT, Inc. is one of New York City's most active and innovative senior
centers, providing intellectually stimulating and engaging programs
for senior citizens. In 1993, the Whitney began working with DOROT,
Inc. to provide a host of senior programs, including courses at
the Museum, slide talks, and multi-session courses at the center,
as well as telephone conference courses for homebound senior citizens.
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Recruitment of Youth
Working with community-based organizations, New York City schools, and
community partners who serve youth audiences--the Regent Family Residence,
and United Neighborhood Houses--the Whitney Museum recruits youths for this
program in the spring and summer of each year for participation in the fall.
In May of each year, youth are invited to an open house where they can
ask questions and learn about Youth Insights. The selection process
is competitive. Individuals are required to fill out an application form,
submit two letters of recommendation, write a statement of interest, and participate
in a group interview with the Whitney Museum's Education staff and current Youth
Insights participants. The application process is designed to determine
applicants' potential as well as their capacity to work in a group environment.
The Whitney Museum recognizes that teachers and community partners are experts
at identifying and nurturing the most promising young adults in their communities.
It is this expertise and understanding that inform all of our decisions surrounding
the recruitment and selection of youth to participate in the program.
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Training and Curriculum
Over the course of the 13-week training period in the fall, students attend seminars conducted by the Whitney's curators, museum professionals, and guest speakers, including artists, critics, and scholars. Seminars focus on the masterworks on display in the Museum's Permanent Collection and temporary exhibitions, and on key issues in twentieth-century American art and culture. The students are first provided with an overview of how the Museum works, and then receive training in communication and analytical skills to make them effective tour guides, discussion leaders, and workshop leaders. Visits to artists' studios, other museums, and community organizations are also included in the training. Through extensive and rigorous training, participants are given the tools and the opportunity to develop their intellectual, social, and artistic abilities, and to learn about the major art movements and issues that have shaped American art and culture.
During the school year, the participating youth are expected to commit Tuesday
from 4PM - 6PM and Saturday from 10AM - 2PM, for a total of six
hours per week. Over the summer, the students are expected to increase
their participation in the program. Students receive a stipend based
on their years of participation in the program.
In December 1999, Youth Insights implemented the first ever
Youth2Youth Tour. This special programs, aimed at high-school-aged
youth, allows students to visit the Museum for free on every third
Friday of the month to engage in programs focusing on the exhibitions
on view at the Museum. Youth Insights participants lead the
tours and encourage active participation of the audience.
During the academic school year, every second Saturday of the month
from 9am - 11am, the Whitney offers interactive Family Fun!
Workshops. These unique workshops are designed for Whitney
Kids ages 5 to 10 and their adult guests. A Whitney Artist Educator
leads all workshops with the assistance of Youth Insights
participants. At the end of an exhibition specific tour, families
create art projects in the galleries and receive a take-home project
with art supplies provided.
The Look Out! Program for families takes place Saturdays
from 2-3:30PM and it is free with museum admission. During
Look Out! tours, a Whitney Artist Educator and Youth Insights
participant leads children and their adult guests on a thematic
tour of the galleries and sketching activities. Families learn
to
look at art together and to share their sketches and experiences
of American art.
The Whitney Museum's Fourth Annual Family Day took
place on Saturday November 1, 2003, from 11am to 3pm. During this
free art party designed for kids 5 to 10 years old, families explore
the Museum's unique architecture and its collection of American
paintings and sculpture. Children and their adult guests can also
create their own art projects on an entire floor devoted to kids!
Whitney Artist Educators and Youth Insights guide families
in an art hunt and art-making activities in the galleries. Every
Whitney Kid receives From the Ground Up! our new family
activity guide, and a gift bag filled with art supplies and treats.
Kid-friendly
refreshments are served.
During the summer, the students focus on programs with senior citizens,
both at the Museum and at senior centers around New York City. They
develop lectures, discussions, and hands-on workshops aimed at engaging
senior citizens in discussions about American art and how it relates
to their own lives and experiences. The Whitney expects over one
thousand senior citizens to benefit from their meetings with youth
participants of the program.
The summer is also a time for Youth Insights participants
to further explore the New York art scene. Visiting galleries, alternative
spaces, museum and other types of cultural institutions are common
place though out the week, participants will meet museum professionals
and other teens involved in programs at various cultural institutions.
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Mentoring
Museum staff serve as mentors to the students as they develop their teaching skills. Museum-trained docents and lecturers also serve as mentors and work with the students to refine their presentations, focus, and interactions with senior citizens, families, and other youths. Senior citizens provide students with insights on life in the twentieth century and offer seasoned viewpoints on contemporary culture and society. In addition, artists participating in the program offer their perspectives on the creation and presentation of art, giving students insight into the multiple meanings found in art works.
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Youth2Youth Web Site
Working in collaboration with the Center for Children and Technology,
Museum staff, and a design house, Youth Insights developed
its own Web site. The Web site—Youth2Youth—enables
the participating students to create their own means of communicating
with other youth locally, nationally, and internationally. In this
way, students have the opportunity to lead discussions on their
new understanding of and perspectives on American art and culture,
and they can answer questions from other students around the country
and the world.
The Center for Children and Technology is a nationally recognized research organization that brings the most recent study and understanding of learning processes to the field of technology. Through their expertise, Youth2Youth is "age appropriate" and is designed to encourage meaningful exchanges and dialogues. The goal is to enable students to deepen and expand their knowledge while using new technologies in provocative and engaging ways.
Youth2Youth is an important vehicle for the students in Youth Insights to disseminate what they have learned through the program. In addition, Youth2Youth enables alumni of the program to interact and communicate with current students in the program.
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Evaluation
Youth Insights will use a variety of evaluation methods to measure the overall success of the program in building an intergenerational conversation on American art and culture, as well as the impact of the program's goals and objectives on the three distinct populations served-- youth, senior citizens, and families. The evaluation will also consider the impact of the Youth Insights program on the Whitney Museum and its community partners.
Participating youths will be assessed in the context of the project's goals, using self, peer, Whitney Museum staff, audience, and partner evaluations. Museum educators, curators, guest speakers, and program participants (families and senior citizens) will be asked to take part in ongoing evaluations, which may include questionnaires and interviews. The results from all these levels and methods of evaluation will be analyzed regularly by the Museum's staff and partner organizations so that changes and alterations to the project's schedule and content can be made as needed.
The Education Department of the Whitney Museum is working with an evaluation specialist to develop methods for assessing the impact of Youth Insights on the participating institutions. Methods will be developed to determine the impact of the Whitney Museum—as an institution and as a provider of quality arts programming—on the communities targeted through its partnering organizations, as well as the quality and success of this partnership with community-based organizations and schools.
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Documentation and Dissemination
Youth Insights provides an unprecedented opportunity for the Museum to reconsider how it relates to its various constituencies, how it interacts with community organizations, and how it can facilitate meaningful conversations across generations. The Whitney Museum is committed to documenting the process and progress of this program through written reports and photographs.
The success of the project will be measured, in part, by the ability to allow our colleagues to understand and benefit from the progress we have made. Together, with our community partners and the participating youth, we will be looking for opportunities to present our work and to allow our colleagues to offer their responses and guidance to our progress and achievements. We know that we will be able to make significant contributions that will offer guidance about how to combine extraordinary resources to create collaborations that are long lasting and how to rethink the special nature of museum learning for our audiences.
At each step of the process, the Museum will document the progress of the initiative. At appropriate moments during the course of the grant period, reports will be written and distributed to interested individuals, museums, and organizations. At the conclusion of the grant period, a final report will be produced and widely distributed. The final report will serve not only as a summary of the project but will also feature suggestions for developing a project that meets the needs of other specialized communities.
The Whitney Museum will work with students to develop a proposal for presenting their work to museum professionals at the annual meeting of the American Association of Museums (AAM). Similar efforts will be made for participation in the annual New York State Art Teachers Association (NYSATA) conference. In addition, the Museum will explore, with our community partners, other presentation opportunities outside the framework of arts education.
The Museum is also committed to disseminating information about this project within its immediate community. Each year, Youth Insights students, Whitney staff, and partners will make presentations to the Museum's Board of Trustees and to the boards of our partner organizations. Annual articles have appeared in the Museum's calendar and members' publications.
Youth Insights fosters a greater understanding of history, community, self, and society as we move into the twenty-first century. The program creates opportunities for individuals whose lives span the century to interact with each other, learn from each other, challenge each other, and develop important dialogues that make American art, culture, and history engaging and relevant.
Youth Insights is made possible by grants from the Deutsche
Bank Americas Foundation, the Ambrose Monell Foundation, The
New York Times Company Foundation, the Reuters Foundation, the
Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, Fleet, and the Banana Republic.
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©
1999-2002 Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
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