TeenTix Blog TeenTix News

Happy July! I’m Katherine and I’m back with more recommendations from The New Guard. In June, we took advantage of our summer freetime and went to a TON of TeenTix events. Some of our favorites included Sweeny Todd at ArtsWest, Lydia at Strawberry Theatre Workshop, and Welcome to Braggsville at Book-It. We all went to the MoPOP Summer Kickoff Party and it was so cool! What did you do in June?

This month, our number one recommendation is the Yayoi Kusamsa: Infinity Mirrors exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum. Kusama is one of the most prolific artists of our time and this exhibit “contextualizes the notion of infinite expansion.” Besides the Instagram-famous mirror rooms, the exhibit includes paintings, sculpture, multi-media installations, and “rare archival materials.” Unfortunately, tickets for this exhibit are very hard to get but they are available on a first come-first serve basis starting at 10am. We highly recommend you have a backup plan in case you can’t get tickets. To learn more, check out the SAM website and follow their social media accounts.

HELLO FRIENDS! During the eve of May 20th a spammer attacked the TeenTix website! Nothing seems permantely broken - no info has been stolen - and we are working RIGHT NOW to fix it. BUT we did see that 2,000 SPAM emails were sent out using the info@teentix.org address. That was not us- we are so sorry - and we hope to resolve everything soon!

Please note - while we are workign to fix this we have had to TEMPORARILY stop all automatic emails, including the Password Reset and Lost Pass Requests are temporarily out of order.

Hey TeenTix members! It’s Katherine and I’m bringing you more recommendations from The New Guard, TeenTix’s Arts Leadership Society.

During April, we saw a TON of different shows and went to many events. Our favorites were Here Lies Love (which is still playing!) at Seattle Rep, The Secret Garden at 5th Ave, and Ballet on Broadway at PNB. Personally, I saw The Fog Machine Play at *new partner* Copious Love Productions (which was one of last month’s recommendations) and it was probably the weirdest thing I’ve seen (but also one of the coolest)!

Every year, we here at TeenTix get SO MANY REQUESTS from arts-presenting organizations to join our multi-faceted roster. TeenTix staff vets them, and The New Guard decide whether they're relevant to teen arts-going wants/needs/desires.

Well, today, we're stoked to present FIVE BRAND NEW TeenTix partners! Help us welcome CHOP SHOP Contemporary Dance Festival, ComedySportz Improv, Copious Love Productions, 18th & Union, and Abbey Arts to our community of teen-hyped arts institutions! Woooo!!

​We totally get it - transportation can be hard to navigate, especially at night. So much so that it can even prevent teens from getting to see the cool stuff our city has to offer. We also know that transportation to and from the art you want to see has to be parent AND teen approved.

Happy March, TeenTix members!

I’m Katherine, a member of The New Guard, TeenTix’s youth leadership board. We’re excited to bring you our recommendations for upcoming shows and TeenTix-eligible events! (Hopefully, this will become a monthly tradition.)

Looking for something to do this Spring? Wanna get your hands on some art? Our partners have got some amazing opportunities for teens that we've compiled here for your viewing pleasure. Behold the wonder of art & community!

---------------

Thanks for all you do to support TeenTix. Together we can make Seattle's art scene accessable to ALL teens and empower our youth to become engaged citizens, arts advocates, and civic leaders in our community.

As all you old school TeenTix-ers know, Pacific Northwest Ballet's wildly popular Nutcracker ballet is the only PNB show all year that is NOT TeenTix eligible. However, because they <3 us so much, PNB always puts aside a little stash of TeenTix tickets for one Nutcracker performance each year. It is an amazing, annual tradition that draws teens from far and wide. You won't want to miss it. This year, PNB is holding TeenTix tickets for ~TWO~ performances! Both 12:30pm AND 5:30pm performances on Wednesday, December 28th, 2016 will be TeenTix eligible!

In 2015, PNB acquired George Balanchine’s iconic production, blending Peter’s Boal’s personal history—his New England childhood and his 30-year involvement with the Balanchine Nutcracker as both a student and professional dancer—with the future of the Company. New designs by another renowned children’s author and illustrator, Ian Falconer, carry the Balanchine staging forward into the 21st century, while the staging by Fugate, Boal, and Whittle ensures the heritage of a tradition reaching back to 1892 and the grandeur of the Imperial era.

Today we are so thrilled to share that Monique Courcy will join us in October as our new Executive Director!

Monique grew up in the Yakima valley before earning a BFA in Dance from the University of Washington and an MFA in Arts Leadership from Seattle University. She has spent the last six years working at TeenTix partner organization On the Boards, where she manages Digital Media and OntheBoards.tv, a pioneering project that makes high-definition recordings of contemporary performances accessible to an international audience through streaming and downloads. In this role, Monique has expanded the program’s national reach, producing films and developing a video-on-demand platform that now reaches thousands of students at over 100 universities across the globe. OntheBoards.tv has been profiled in the New York Times, and is the winner of a 2015 Arts Entrepreneur Award from Fractured Atlas.

You are invited to the 2016 Teeny Awards

A party for the future Sunday, October 9th Benaroya Hall

TICKETS ON SALE NOW! Can't attend but would like to make a donation in support of TeenTix? Thank you! Click here to be taken to our donation page. (Be sure to click 'designate my donation to a specific fund' and choose TeenTix.) CEREMONY

The annual Teeny Awards celebrate the best in our region's arts and culture according to teens. Come and help us elevate and celebrate young people's contributions to keeping our arts community healthy and strong for decades to come. Plus, there will be cupcakes! Tickets to the ceremony are just $5 for teens, and $20 for everybody else. Don't miss the red carpet & fabulous prizes! DINNER

Hello TeenTix family! I have some news to share. Earlier this afternoon, the board of TeenTix announced that I have decided to step down as Executive Director of TeenTix and given them my notice. October 28th will be my last day here.

I love TeenTix. Doing the work of elevating teens' voices in the arts community for the last decade has been more rewarding than I could have imagined. If you have the opportunity in your lives to do work that you believe in, that makes the world little bit better, and that puts you in contact with excellent people, I highly recommend it. The most rewarding part has been watching our members leave us and go off and become even more amazing adults than they were teens--which is really saying something, because TeenTix teens are basically the greatest.

Do you care about keeping art accessible for young people? Come and work with us!

QUALIFICATIONS You must be: 16 or older, and able to get to Seattle Center Available 10-15 hours per week during regular business hours (M-F, 9am-6pm) Smart, motivated, responsible, and enthusiastic Willing to conduct monotonous tasks with a smile Passionate about making art accessible for young people

All we see on stage when we go to see a play are the actors and the set pieces. We notice the lights and sound, and maybe the tech crew, but there are so many parts to running a fully-functioning theater that people may not realize. I considered myself pretty knowledgeable about all things theater, but I still had a lot to learn on my mini-mentorship with Robert Hankin, the Associate Director of Development at ACT Theatre. He was a great person to have as a guide and mentor for the day because he said he has had nine different positions in his nine years at ACT!

I was surprised by the dozens and dozens of people who work behind the scenes to make everything run smoothly. A few departments I can rattle off: Development (a.k.a. fundraising), Sales, Marketing, Graphic Design, Casting, Costuming, Set Design, Tech Design, Outreach, Front-of-House, Executive Team, Artistic Team, and more! I remember meeting one person in the elevator who's only job was to paint things. In a large-scale theater like ACT, so many different moving pieces have to work together cohesively. What mattered was that everyone cared about what they were doing and enjoyed putting in the effort to create amazing theater.

Wanna get acquainted with the TeenTix community? There's no better way than to attend one of our ~special events~ produced in cooperation with our partner organizations. The best part about seeing one of these shows? Proceeds from the tickets you purchase always support TeenTix and our mission to ensure equitable access to the arts for all young people. Ready, set, GO get some art!

On Wednesday, April 9th, representatives of TeenTix partner organizations, supporters, and other friends gathered at the Nesholm Family Lecture Hall at Benaroya Hall for the First Annual TeenTix Partner Meet-Up. The Meet-Up closed with a half-hour-long panel where members of The New Guard, TeenTix's Teen Arts Leadership Society, talked about their experiences as avid arts-goers, and answered questions from the audience.

Our panelists jotted down their thoughts after the panel, and we provide them here for anyone who is interested in a glimpse into the world of an arts-going teen. Enjoy! Our panelists:

The Arts & Culture Coalition of Pierce County and the City of Tacoma are working with us in hopes of bringing TeenTix to The 253! The most important part of this feasibility study is hearing from YOU. We want to know if/how the arts fit into your life now, and if/how that could change if TeenTix was introduced to your home turf.

If you're a teen that lives in Pierce County, please take this survey that'll ask about your arts-going habits, hopes, and desires!

EMP’s Youth Advisory Board (YAB) is hosting Oh Snap!, a photography contest highlighting live performances in the Seattle music scene.

A maximum of eight winners will be selected to have their photographs displayed in Soundboard Alley at EMP, a youth-designed and curated section of the museum. Those selected will also win tickets and passes to events hosted by EMP partners Vera Project, The Crocodile, and Youth in Focus. The winners will be chosen by the Youth Advisory Board.

Youth Voice, Youth Choice is a new Participatory Budgeting (PB) Initiative from the City of Seattle. Focusing on engaging people who have historically not been involved in government, PB is a democratic process where community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budget.

Youth Voice, Youth Choice involves four steps. First, community members will come up with ideas for public projects they would like to see in their communities. Second, youth volunteers will turn those ideas into concrete proposals with support from the Department of Neighborhoods and City staff. Third, Seattle youth will vote for the projects they would like to see implemented in their communities. Fourth, the winning projects will be funded and implemented by the City of Seattle and other local agencies.

Spring has almost sprung, and our partners' education programs are in full swing! Check out these opportunities below and make the most of the season.

Henry Teen Collective @ Henry Art Gallery February 25 through May 12 Thursdays, 3:30–5:00 PM