TeenTix Blog

We know transportation is a BIG part of the equation when you're planning your arts-going with your TeenTix Pass, which is why we're ALWAYS looking for new ways you can see art safely and for not a lot of dough. We also know that not everyone's transportation options are the same - so we like to work with people who can help teens get around Seattle in all sorts of different ways.

We are STOKED that our friends at ReachNow want to help.

You know all about what to wear to the 2017 Teeny Awards - AND we hope you've got your Teeny Awards tickets (but if not, no worries, you can do that right here!), AND you've probably noticed that the doors open (@2:30 pm) a whole hour before the awards ceremony starts (@3:30 pm) on Sunday, September 24th.

Why's that?

So glad you asked!

HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO/EAT/SEE during the pre-show red carpet/cupcake hour!

WHAT TO DO @ THE 2017 Teeny Awards

That's right, we're filling the walls of The Vera Project with amazing (teen approved) art for you to enjoy. And you can get your snack on at the Snack Bar (sponsored by Pacific Northwest Ballet, thanks, PNB!). We've also got delicious cupcakes for you to nom. And last but not least RACHEL's GINGER BEER for when you get thirsty. YUM.

Now that you're feeling nice and full, what should you do next? How about getting your very own TeenTix temp tat? Or winning cool swag at the Seattle Symphony Swag Toss (hit the target, win the swag!)! You should also be sure to vote for your favorite arts organization! And take advantage of a REAL LIFE RED CARPET!! Get your photo taken on the red carpet or do it yourself at the Selfie Booth (sponsored by the Seattle Rep!). Feeling crafty? Make your very own buttons to take home or adorn your person!

All this awesomeness starts at 2:30. And we haven't even told you about the Award Show yet!!

Come early, bring your friends, party.

Wouldn't you know it? Summer is a BUSY time for TeenTix - mainly because school isn't in session, so it's the best time for YOU to get out and enjoy all the arts and sunshine that our city has to offer! Which makes total sense. This city is amazing.

So, summer is like overdrive at TeenTix HQ - we're working away, making sure our calendar entries are up-to-date with all the most important information to make it as easy as possible for you to whip out your TeenTix pass around the clock until school starts up again. (Need a TeenTix Pass? Or maybe you lost it and need a replacement?)

When the summer heat dies down and the yellow buses start running again, you know it’s Teeny Awards time!

WHAT IT IS

The Teeny Awards celebrate the things teens (aka Seattle’s trendsetting young taste-makers) love in our local arts & culture scene! The winners are selected by popular vote — in other words, YOU choose which shows, exhibits and organizations should receive coveted awards such as “Best Aesthetics,” “The Treat Yo’ Self (or our favorite thing to see during finals week) Award” or “Best Front-of-House Experience.” We’ll send you everything you need to know about voting soon.

In the meantime, get excited!!!

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.

Going to see Here Lies Love is an experience. It is immersive and provocative and at times incredibly overwhelming. This rock musical was written by Fatboy Slim and David Byrne about Imelda Marcos, the wife of a Filipino Dictator in the years leading up to the People’s Power Revolution.

While the Rep’s 2016/17 season revolves around power dynamics, HLL would perhaps have been more fitting in the next season, titled “We are real, messy, human.” The entire duration of the play one both sympathizes and is disappointed with Imelda as she embarks on a life that seems to continually draw her further and further away from reality. HLL gives voice and accessibility to Filipino history while at the same time telling the story of a complex and struggling woman in power.

Happy June and Happy Summer!

I’m Katherine and I have more recommendations from TeenTix’s Arts Leadership Society, The New Guard. In May, we saw a ton of art around Seattle! We kicked it with fellow youth arts group, the Henry Teen Art Collective, at the Seattle Art Museum and explored the permanent collection. We watched as many SIFF movies as we could fit into our schedule. We also saw lots of theater; some of our favorites were Murder for Two at ACT, Spring Awakening at the UW Undergraduate Theatre Society, and The Magic Flute at Seattle Opera. What did you see in May?

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.

Dale and Christine Bateman are GiveBIG SUPERSTARS and OMG are they passionate about TeenTix!

Christine introduced Dale to TeenTix after she got to know the TeenTix Press Corps, who were out and about practicing their skills and viewing art at the Balagan Theater where she was Marketing Director. The Press Corps and The New Guard: Teen Arts Leadership Society are a big deal to Christine and Dale. They strongly believe in youth leadership programs that value giving teens a chance to learn, succeed, and sometimes fail in a safe environment.

Get your hands on some art this summer and keep yourself movin' and groovin' during the hottest months of the year! There's something for everyone on this list:

DANCE

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)!

Ella Mahler, our next GiveBig SUPERSTAR is a bit of a chameleon. She is part artist (dancer+choreographer+performer), part fundraiser and arts advocate at The Ostara Group, part keen art consumer, and part TeenTix Advisory Council member. Ella is basically living the art nerd dream.

Do you know Tucker Cholvin?

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!!

Happy Spring! I’m Katherine and I’m back with more recommendations from The New Guard, TeenTix’s youth leadership board. During March, we saw many different plays, films, and art exhibits. Some of our personal favorites were the Moisture Festival, SIFF movies, and Dry Powder at Seattle Rep (which is still running!). What did you see in March?

This month, we have three main recommendations. Firstly, the amazing Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor exhibit opening at the Pacific Science Center is going to be the hottest ticket in town. It’s “an immersive investigation of the science behind priceless artifacts including real figures from the terracotta army” and it sounds SO cool! PacSci recently became a FULL TeenTix partner so you can see the special exhibits (in addition to the IMAX educational films and Laser Dome shows) for only $5. Don’t miss this epic show!!

​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.)

As the film opens, the voice of Samuel L. Jackson is rich and deep—almost booming. His capacity for intensity made him an arguably perfect choice to narrate this documentary. Typewriter clicks accompanied words on the screen, words from a letter written by James Baldwin to his literary agent. In the correspondence, he described the book he was writing, which would be titled “Remember This House”. After his death in 1987, Baldwin’s book remained unfinished. Director of “I Am Not Your Negro”, Raoul Peck, reimagined Baldwin’s work, integrating the manuscript with photographs and videos of not only Baldwin, but his friends Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and others.

The film does not follow a chronological structure, nor does it develop a “linear” thesis. Instead, it is organized into many separate chapters, with titles such as “Heroes” or “Witness”. Baldwin’s manuscript opens each chapter, and is quickly woven in and out of cinematic breaks. The film acknowledged that Baldwin’s words are irresistibly applicable to the modern racial climate, seizing the opportunity to diverge from Civil Rights Era footage. The faces of Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, and others flashed on the screen toward the end of the movie.

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!

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After attending Seattle Opera’s: La Traviata, I can officially say that I have been to the Opera!

As a die-hard-theater-goer, I figured it was high time I had my first operatic experience, but I was unsure of where or what to attend as a newcomer. Luckily, I had the perfect friend to phone! I immediately rang my wonderful sister- a trained singer, an opera fanatic and a Senior in the Audio Engineering Program at Evergreen State college- and out of her mouth came five beautiful words “Let’s go see La Traviata.” She went on to explain that the easy-to-follow plot was exactly what a first-time opera attender would want, as well as, La Traviata was a classic that she’d been meaning to see live. With this, I knew we had to attend the show. When the fourteenth finally rolled around, we spent THREE HOURS doing our hair and makeup while listening to Aidan Lang’s La Traviata podcast (which the Seattle Opera oh-so-courteously emailed me prior to the show) on repeat. The time had finally come to strut our way to Mccaw Hall and take our seats in the stunning theater. Within moments of the first set of traditional red curtains being drawn, I was hooked- ready to delve into Violetta and Alfredo’s passionate story of lover’s heartache. The minimalist set- one pair of red curtains after another- allowed me to lock in on the plot and the singing, and Corinne Winters’ (Violetta) & Joshua Dennis’s (Alfredo) voices did not disappoint: seemingly soaring through the packed house with precision and ease. As well as the ensemble/party-goers looming presence over Violetta & Alfredo’s relationship was ever-present in the group-orientated choreography; along with, the push, pull and heartbreak of the young couples love being dynamically translated through the entrances and exits of existent/nonexistent red curtains. La Traviata’s fast pace and beautiful symbolism kept the audience on the edge of their seats for the entirety of the one-hour, fifty-minute production, and was the perfect Opera to see as a ‘newby’. Afterwards, I picked my sister’s brain to get an experienced Opera attender’s opinion and, shockingly enough, we agreed on a plethora of things. This experience just goes to show that whether you are a die-hard-theater-goer or a die-hard-opera-fanatic art is universal. I couldn’t have asked to see a better first-opera, and I’m very excited to farther expand my knowledge of opera. Also, If you haven’t had a taste of the opera scene yet either, La Traviata is playing at Mccaw Hall until January 28th, don't miss it!