Youth Arts Journalism Initiative | Arts, Culture & Community
| YAJI Alum Navi Gaskins at ConnCAT last year. Lucy Gellman File Photo. |
Have you heard? We're now accepting applications for our Youth Arts Journalism Initiative or YAJI, a paid mentorship program during which students report out articles, and get paid for their work. If you are a New Haven Public School student between grades 9 and 12, apply today at: https://bit.ly/2GeKbSK.
In its second year, the mission of the Youth Arts Journalism Initiative (YAJI) is to use The Arts Paper to train 10 high school students from New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) to independently research, report out, draft, and publish four articles about hyperlocal visual, performing, and culinary arts.
Let us tell you a little about the program. In April, we begin with a weeklong intensive during NHPS spring break, and follow it with seven weeks of pitch meetings and professional mentorship after school. Students are compensated for their work, in what we hope will be a path to creative economic empowerment. A full list of dates and locations is available on the application page.
In its current state, YAJI is partly aligned with the National Core Arts Standards, which have been adopted by the Connecticut State Board of Education. Last year, we observed that creative writing programs were on the chopping block from some schools across the state of Connecticut, and found it timely to draw a connection between the creative work many students do, and the critical skills it prepares them for as young journalists.
We don’t just take students who like writing—alums from our first year played instruments, did theater, and geeked out about math and science. That’s why it’s a teaching program. YAJI zeroes in on critical analysis and engagement, the ability to put artistic ideas in cultural context, and creation of original content. Our interpretation of an "article" is broad: students are allowed to produce comic strips, original music, video, or podcasts as their final capstone projects, if they are accompanied by a written summary.
On a day-to-day and week-to-week basis, what we're doing is always a little different. During our weeklong intensive in April, we will be based out of the main branch of the New Haven Free Public Library (NHFPL), where we will provide students with lunch each day and bus passes for the week. Each day, we will be meeting with professionals in the field, studying everything from contract negotiations to how to handle a portable podcast mic.
Mini “field trips” include Connecticut Public Radio studios at Gateway Community College, the Yale University Art Gallery, the Connecticut Center for Arts & Technology (ConnCAT) and Baobab Tree Studios.
After the intensive, we'll meet weekly with students on Tuesday afternoons at the library. With the exception of emergencies—we know that life happens—these meetings are mandatory. During each one, students work closely with The Arts Paper staff to pitch, draft, edit, and ultimately publish articles that will appear on newhavenarts.org and in a compendium of YAJI work later this year.
Sound cool? We think it does. Apply today!