Creative Youth Collective
Do you have so many ideas that sometimes you don't know where to start? When you finally pick one and run with it, do you sometimes get tangled in your thoughts and a little frustrated before you really hit your stride? Do you find your flow when you have the chance to talk it out, problem-solve, and brainstorm with a friend?
Well, if you answered yes to those questions, you're in the right place.
In the Creative Youth Collective, we provide super creative kids like you with a safe space where you can talk through your ideas, experiment, research, and play. You get our individual attention and guided mentorship, while joining a community of like-minded creative youth. You get opportunities to share your work publicly, earn royalties from book sales (!), and if you choose, we'll help you donate your profits to support causes you care about.
In a nutshell, the Creative Youth Collective is committed to youth empowerment and activism through the creative process. The projects we produce and release help to build a future that we can all thrive in. If that sounds like your jam, join us!
Engaging your interests
Each member of the Creative Youth Collective meets with us individually on a weekly basis to give consistent time, attention, and care to their ideas. We usually start with a small seed—a fictional character that’s hilarious and a blast to develop, a historical period that’s infinitely fascinating, or a style of photography that they want to try out themselves. With time, as we continue to build on ideas together, they grow from seeds into sprouts, and from sprouts into trees.
Finding your voice
Witnessing the transformation from an idea to a whole new world—one that only exists because they gave it the time it needed to grow—is a powerful experience for young writers and artists. As makers of any age, it’s empowering to both see ourselves and be seen by our communities as the creators we are. By engaging in this long-term process, members of the Creative Youth Collective realize firsthand that taking time to develop their unique voice really matters.
“From building pinhole cameras, to turning my hallway into a mini gallery, and then creating my college application portfolio, you’ve taught me so much and really let me explore photography. Thank you for all of the opportunities and milestones you helped me achieve. Without you, publishing my editorial in The Almanac, having my first photography exhibition at the Konditorei in Portola Valley, publishing 4 photography books, getting 7 out of 8 college acceptances, and my solo photography exhibition at the Village Hub in Woodside wouldn’t have been possible.
It’s really cool to look back and see how my work has grown. And honestly, I don’t know if I’d even be going to college to study photojournalism if it weren’t for you. So, thank you so much, I am so so grateful!”
Sharing your vision
When we come to the end of our making process, we often put our work out into the world as self-published books because we believe that sharing our ideas matters. Our work serves to inspire readers and continues the cycle of imagination and creative growth. Working with text, photographs, moving images, and sound to express the vision of each member of the Creative Youth Collective, we harness storytelling as a medium for youth-centered activism.
Changing the world
If a collective member chooses to sell their book in our Blurb store, 100% of the profits are donated to organizations that need our support to realize the changes we want to see in the world. Our creative work quite literally helps build a world that we can all thrive in. By believing in the value of our ideas, developing our unique creative voices, and mobilizing our work to support causes we care deeply about, we’re dreaming, imagining, and, most importantly, creating better futures.
A Community of Young Artists and Writers
Members of the Creative Youth Collective and Whole Child Education check out some of the materials that Trina recently brought back from Senegal and Cameroon.
During the academic year, we host events for members of the Creative Youth Collective to meet each other, learn about each other's current projects, meet professional Bay Area artists and writers, and celebrate our accomplishments.
Last spring, at our Creative Work Share and Artist Talk, members of the Collective had the opportunity to listen to featured artist Trina Michelle Robinson speak about her interdisciplinary art practice.
Trina explores the relationship between memory and migration through film, print media, archival materials and text. She is currently featured in Bay Area Now 9, the ninth iteration of Yerba Buena Center for the Art's signature triennial exhibition highlighting artists working throughout the Bay Area's nine counties. Her work has been shown at galleries and film festivals throughout the country including NPR’s Moth Radio Hour.
Trina Michelle Robinson discusses exploring her ancestral history through recreating shared sensory experiences.
The Celebration of Creative Youth
And at the end of the academic year, we exhibit and share our work with friends and family at the Celebration of Creative Youth. At our event in May 2023, we gathered at The Village Hub in Woodside, California, where parents, family, and friends of the young artists and writers celebrated the release of five new books, two blogs, a film, and an exhibition of photographs by our Creative Youth Collective Scholarship recipient, Anna Calia.
The Creative Youth Collective Scholarship
Strolling for a Snack, Archival 16 x 20 C-Print by Anna Calia, 2023.
In 2022, The CCC Project established the Creative Youth Collective Scholarship: a full semester, merit-based award that celebrates young artists and writers who demonstrate exceptional talent and commitment to their creative visions. Our 2023 CYC Scholarship recipient, Anna Calia’s solo exhibition, Namibia, was on view at The Village Hub in Woodside, CA from May 21st through July 2, 2023.
During the summer of 2022, Anna was part of a photography and conservation student travel program in Namibia. She spent a month camping in the bush, photographing, and learning about the incredible wildlife. This exhibition celebrates her commitment to her work as a photographer, as well as her deep respect for animals, nature, and the environment.
I’ve had the honor of mentoring Anna and helping her cultivate her passion for photography and writing since she was ten years old. It’s been an absolute pleasure to watch her continuously grow as an artist throughout the last seven years. This fall, Anna headed to Washington DC to study photojournalism at Corcoran School of Art and Design at George Washington University where she will continue to follow her passion for photography and environmental conservation.
“I am so grateful that Anna had a chance to participate in the Creative Youth Collective last year as a scholarship recipient. What stands out the most to me was and is your unwavering embrace and celebration of Anna as an individual and a creative. You made her feel, at every opportunity, that her voice, her story, and her unique mode of expression were important and worthwhile to put out into the world. During those times (and there were many) that Anna doubted herself and her abilities, she knew that you never doubted her - that kind of support is critical for all kids, but for a teenager like Anna, I think it made all the difference. In the end, because of the Collective, Anna had the opportunity to experience the beginnings of the impact she will have in the real world - 7 out of 8 college acceptances. But most importantly, when she put her heart on display - the Namibia exhibit at the Celebration of Creative Youth this past summer - and received exuberant feedback from our greater community, she began to truly believe in herself. As her parent, it was a joy to witness. ”
In a nutshell, the creative youth collective is an opportunity for A young artist or writer to dive deep, feel seen, and grow.
“I just cannot thank you enough or adequately for the care and love you have sent my daughter’s way at a very critical time in her life. She had a very big transition to a new school that was, in many ways, very good for her and, in many ways, very difficult for her. You have let her shine and been the encouragement she needed to grow into a confident artist. :) Thank you. You will always be SUCH a blessing to our family as we weave this fabric of time.
You have meant the world to us... I mean it!
”
Personalized programming in 1:1 classes
A radically collaborative customized curriculum focused on personalized creative writing and/or photography/digital media
Feedback on work completed between sessions for additional guidance
The Collective Experience
CYC members are offered opportunities to connect with the broader Bay Area Arts & Cultural Community through
A group gathering at a Bay Area public event featuring our young authors and artists
A collective work share, where CYC members can discuss works in progress, share ideas, and receive support from peers on a current project
A public exhibition and celebration of CYC work created over the course of the academic year, scheduled in May 2023
Parent/Student consultations
Scheduled at the beginning, midpoint, and end of the semester, these meetings offer both parents and students a space to clarify goals, identify specific projects the student would like to complete over the course of the academic year, and reflect on the creative process up to that point
Additional Options:
College Application Essay Preparation
Applying to college involves effectively narrating pivotal life experiences, identifying your values, and choosing to become the hero of your own story. It also involves articulating the meaningful connections you've made with the communities you're invested in, developing your voice, and becoming a powerful writer. The CCC Project's approach to college application essay preparation focuses on making the writing process a reflective, low stress, and above all, meaningful experience as students face this exciting juncture in their lives.
Private High School Application Essay Preparation
We specialize in guiding 8th graders through the reflective process of crafting the types of personal narrative essays required by private, independent, and boarding schools.
Access to a wide network of Artists & Scholars
Need advice or feedback from a professional artist or scholar on a project? We’ll coordinate a 1:1 meeting (or series of meetings) with an artist or scholar who specializes in the media/field you’re exploring.
Eco-sessions
Sometimes when we’re thinking through something or feeling a bit stuck, it’s important to get off of our screens and into nature. Eco-sessions offer students an opportunity to conduct their personalized 1:1 classes in the Phleger Estate, a spacious and beautiful private redwood preserve at the top of Kings Mountain in Woodside, CA.
Programs start at $2940, and scholarship opportunities are available. If you are interested in learning more about how your young artist or writer could become a member of the Creative Youth Collective, please schedule a complimentary parent consultation.