BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange Announces the 2018 YOUTHWORKS FESTIVAL

BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange is excited to announce the 2018 YouthWorks Festival. Established in 1991 (formerly Kids Outback) and directed by BAX Faculty Donna Costello, YouthWorks is an annual opportunity for young people (ages 8 - 18) to imagine, create, and perform their own original performance work at BAX. A personal and artistic journey happens for each young artist in the program that begins at the orientation meeting and continues through to the performance. Participants come in from all over the city, most with nothing more than the desire to create "something," and set themselves to work.

YouthWorks brings together young and adult artists in an artistic exchange to enrich one another. This is an integral part of BAX's efforts to bridge professional and youth arts services. Professional artists work as coaches to guide these aspiring young artists through a 6-week rehearsal process.

The production will take place in the BAX Theater space to packed audiences on Saturday, February 3rd at 7:00pm and Sunday, February 4th at 5:00pm. Participation in this program is free for any young artist, living in the greater New York City area, who is interested in making performance work.

Each work that is created has a technical rehearsal for spacing and lighting decisions and then a dress rehearsal with all of the performers in the show. There is always a vast array of pieces: dramatic, comedic, theatrical, movement based, solos, group work and duets. YouthWorks meets young artists as they are, acknowledging the greater world and experiences they are representing upon entering the BAX Building and, likewise, hoping that their experiences at BAX will be brought back out to empower them in the world. The one thing that comes through in every piece is the unique voice of the young artists. It is an incredible sight to witness the idea of a young person fully developed in a staged work. The experience of an audience member at one of these shows is rarely forgotten. It reminds all of us that for every performance there is a lot of commitment, decision-making, imagination and most of all hard work that happens before that final show. YouthWorks celebrates the entire process!

Founded in 1991, BAX | Brooklyn Arts Exchange, is a community based performing arts center dedicated to developing artists of all ages, from children to professionals. The organization offers community access to arts and culture, supporting the creation of new work by emerging artists, engaging diverse audiences and providing arts education to youth and families. BAX has intentionally constructed an environment where children study and professional artists create under the same roof. Students are mentored by professional directors and choreographers. The organization's distinct focus on developmental process makes it a nurturing incubator for experimental dance and theater artists and is an important advocate for under-represented voices in the New York City performing arts community.

For more information about BAX and its programs please call 718-832-0018, email press@bax.org or visit us on the web at www.bax.org.

BAX | Brooklyn Arts Exchange receives generous funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, Council Member Brad Lander, Astoria Bank, Bay and Paul Foundations, Con Edison, Copper Beech Foundation, Corcoran Cares, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Eileen Fisher Inc., the Harkness Foundation for Dance, Marta Heflin Foundation, Houlihan Lokey, the Jerome Foundation, the Jerome Robbins Foundation, the Scott Klein Team at Douglas Elliman Real Estate, M&T Charitable Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, Park Slope Civic Council, the Pritchard Family Foundation, the Scherman Foundation and the Sustainable Arts Foundation.

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