Youth Insights Summer Intensive Program: Day One
Jul 1, 2014

On July 1, this year’s Youth Insights Summer Intensive Program began at the Whitney. Eighteen teens from around New York City met and started learning about art and arts careers both inside and outside the Museum. First we spent some time getting to know each other and discussing our goals for the summer. 

After using Play-Doh to create sculptures that represented aspects of our personalities, the teens formed small groups to brainstorm concept maps of arts careers. Those maps opened up our first group conversation of the summer—about what kinds of careers in the arts exist—both the expected (artist) and the unexpected (marketing! Finance!). We will spend the summer learning about many of those jobs and career paths as we speak to people who work in multiple arts-related fields and as the teens build their own resumes and job-application skills.

During our conversation, we discussed careers we might want to learn more about and thought of some questions to ask future speakers. Afterwards, we played a game in pairs, improvising our dream job and nightmare job for our partners.

Next, we moved upstairs to the Museum’s fourth floor to see part of the exhibition Jeff Koons: A Retrospective. Gathered around Koon’s massive Play-Doh sculpture, we discussed the artwork and the multiple arts careers involved in bringing that gigantic sculpture into the Museum, from curators to art handlers. 

Finally, we combined our own Play-Doh sculptures into one large collaborative piece—an activity that really brought home just how much fun and how playful Koons’s work can be! We look forward to a lot more fun at the Whitney and beyond as the summer program continues!

By Correna Cohen, Youth Programs Fellow