Special to the Sun
The Boch Center, one of the nation’s leading nonprofit performing arts institutions, announced the launch of this summer’s award-winning City Spotlights Teen Leadership Program. During the paid six-week youth employment program, Boston teens will develop leadership skills using the performing arts. These creative young adults represent eleven Boston neighborhoods and 21 different Boston-area schools. Since 2012, the program has employed over 400 teen leaders.
This year’s City Spotlights Summer Leadership Program participants have selected the theme: human rights (racism, sexism, ableism, adultism, LGBTQ+ rights). This summer, the teen leaders are discussing and advocating for human rights. They will be creating performances and workshops addressing threats to basic human rights like racism, sexism, ableism, adultism, environmental justice, and LGBTQ+ rights. In their call to action to combat these issues, the teen leaders will be advocating to strengthen our democracy, increase transparency from government officials, reform our immigration system, and address wealth inequality within our communities so that the basic rights of every single person are respected.
“Each year the teens surprise me in new ways,” said Corey Evans, Vice President & Senior Director of Education at Boch Center. “ This year’s group quickly embraced the goal of making their neighborhoods and their city better, to really work for change, not just talk about it, by creating original artistic pieces about social change with the ultimate goal of strengthening the world around them. I am inspired by the fact that these young people are our future leaders, they give me immense hope for the future.”
City Spotlights is a unique youth employment program that empowers local teens to become leaders in school, at home and in their communities by using their creative voices. Core components of the paid six-week program include leadership training, community advocacy, and job readiness, each of which helps teens develop skills necessary to navigate the rapidly changing 21st century. Program highlights included an advocacy day at the Massachusetts State House last week, a flash mob tour across Boston taking place today, a series of community workshops taking place from July 31 through August 6, and an original artistic showcase on the Shubert Theatre stage on July 14.
City Spotlights Teen Leadership Program is a nationally-recognized work-study program for underserved Boston teens (meet this years’ Teen Leaders here). Aligned with the City of Boston’s youth job creation initiative, the program is designed for teens with raw leadership potential who respond better to creative environments not typically available in school. Through an arts-intensive format led by teaching artists and professionals, City Spotlights empowers youth to expand upon existing strengths, to take an active role in personal and professional development, and to become engaged leaders among peers, in the workplace, and in communities as Boston’s next generation of creative innovators and thinkers.
The Boch Center is one of the nation’s leading nonprofits performing arts institutions and a guardian of the historic Wang and Shubert Theatres. As New England’s largest cultural venue, the Boch Center is home to theater, classical and popular music, dance, comedy, opera, Broadway musicals, family entertainment, and more.
Located in Boston’s historic Theater District, the Boch Center also offers a diverse mix of educational, cultural and community outreach initiatives, including the City Spotlights Teen Leadership Program and the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame; collaborates with artists and local nonprofit arts organizations; preserves historic venues; and acts as a champion for Greater Boston’s arts and cultural community. Learn more at bochcenter.org.