Teen Class

How can we cultivate imagination with each other, and what might it lead us towards?

How, when and why do we transform personally and collectively?

In what ways can we use creativity, relationships and art to unravel and reconfigure? How will we transform in the process?

Our thinking, studying, and creating will be guided by contemporary artworks and social movements that work towards deep-rooted change and liberatory imagination.

Each week’s content will be animated by terms containing some variation of the prefix re-; the quality of going back, again, anew. This will link us to different strategies of re-imagining, such as re-naming, re-examining, and re-distributing. This accumulative (and playful) structure will provide us with abundant frameworks to create our own collaborative alchemy.

Requirements

• Be enrolled in a high school in the five boroughs or have a permanent residence in New York City.
   
• Be between 15 and 18 years old at the start of the program.
   
• Be curious, with a willingness to try new things and a desire to learn!
   
• Be available Tuesdays, 4:30–6:30 pm, for in-person meetings at 38 St Marks Place.

Details and Registration

• Classes will meet on select Tuesdays, 4:30pm-6:30pm for 17 sessions between October 21, 2025 and March 31, 2026.
   
• Participants will be paid $16.50/hr for their completed hours.
   
• Applicants are welcome to apply to (if eligible) and participate in both Teen Class and Teen Council at the same time if accepted.
   
• Applications will be accepted until 10:00AM on Wednesday, October 1. Students will be notified about their acceptance by October 3rd.
   
• This program will be facilitated by Anne Cousineau, Teaching Artist and Lead for Creative Pedagogy.
   

Goals

• Create artwork and collaborate on projects.
   
• Explore contemporary art through close-looking and discussion.
   
• Build critical thinking and problem solving skills.
   
• Cultivate a practice of imagination and experimentation.

Access Statement

In this program we will be moving around in the city, using public transportation and seated or standing for a long amount of time. Sometimes, there will be artworks containing triggering or challenging content. We will give a content warning as much as we possibly can in these cases.

Masks are not required for this program but participants are welcome to wear one. SI will make masks and COVID-19 tests available to all participants. All meetings on-site at SI will have a HEPA air purifier running in the meeting space. All participants must be up-to-date with vaccinations including COVID-19 vaccines.