I’ve been a proud supporter of Arts Corps since it was founded in 2000. To deepen my commitment to its teaching artists and youth, I recently joined its board of directors. I’m excited to invest my time and resources into a community that helps young people connect with art and with each other.
As a 16-year-old, I stumbled into a connection to art without realizing it. A door opened when I was exposed to the garage rock, punk rock, and outsider music of the ’80s. With no obvious ‘rules,’ I felt like music was something I could do. The confidence and excitement of finding my tribe and identifying a creative outlet was thrilling for me and for all of us playing together in the Seattle scene, showing up to each other’s shows and rooting for each other’s ships to sail.
The success of Seattle’s music’s community will always be because of our shared art and vision. And that is one of the biggest things I love about Arts Corps. Arts Corps is about building community, support, and encouragement to say — sing, dance, draw — from perspectives that feel right to you, find your voice, tribe, find folks that you can make mistakes in front of… that might love your mistakes. An individual doubles or even triples their personal power when they collaborate and play with others, as a musician or as a person in life.
All young people deserve access to art as a core part of their education.
That’s why I am matching all gifts made to Arts Corps by December 31, 2021, up to $20,000. I invite you to make a gift to Arts Corps today. With your support, we’ll be one step closer to Arts Corps’ vision of a world where barriers to arts education no longer exist and all young people can creatively lead the transformation of schools, neighborhoods, and beyond.
— STONE GOSSARD, Arts Corps Board Member
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Carlynn Newhouse is an African American poet, activist, actress, emcee, and performer. She holds the record for the only 3 time Youth Speaks Seattle Grand Slam Champion (2015, 2017, 2018) and competed in the Brave New Voices poetry festival in years 2015-2018. Carlynn has performed at well known venues such as Seattle Town Hall, Bumbershoot, the Kennedy Center, and others. Carlynn’s work has been featured in Crosscut, the Seattle Review of Books, and XQ Super School Live. She writes about love, loss, community, race, the Black Lives Matter movement, faith, mental health, gender, and the life experiences that made her who she is today. She believes poetry is a form of activism and tool for raising awareness in hopes of making the world a safer space.
Michaelson is a 2 year alumni of The Residency program. With years of foundation building, this summer marks the release schedule for Michaelson’s first studio project “This Is Why”, which is being engineered by Jake Crocker, and is set to start releasing singles here very soon.
At age 15, Shelby Handler performed at a poetry slam for the first time and upon finishing their piece, immediately ran off the stage. Since then, Shelby has been running back and forth from the stage and supporting the next generation of poets to take the mic. As a writer and performer, Shelby explores ritual, queerness and an endless search for home. Their work has been featured in anthologies, public buses, literary journals and stages across the country. Shelby is honored to call Youth Speaks Seattle one of their forever poetry homes. They used to manage the Teen Leadership Program but henceforth, they shall assume the role of Awkward Fan Grrl at the slam series and if they’re lucky, a teaching artist for Arts Corps and YOUTH SPEAKS!
Amy is a multimedia artist, audio engineer, vocalist, and teaching artist who got started on her artistic journey through Arts Corps’ All Access program 10 years ago. She is currently Arts Corps’ Media & Communications Manager, with the honor of being able to take photos and produce videos capturing the unique stories of young artists and changemakers. She is constantly inspired by the young artists she gets to work with and has recently started writing some fresh songs after a long hiatus.
Eduardo has been with Arts Corps since its inception as a veteran master teaching artist and the current Director of Creative Youth Development. A native of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, he is a musician, composer, arranger, and musical director, exploring the many and varied genres of Brazilian popular music.
Kalei’okalani (Kalei) is of Kanaka Maoli, Japanese, Chinese, and Black heritage and was born and raised in Wai’anae, O’ahu. She is the founding leader of Huraiti Mana, a Seattle-based Polynesian Dance Troupe where classes are infused with laughter, shared stories, and passionate work. Kalei has been dancing Ori Tahiti since she was six years old, finding herself in the fast beats of the ote’a and aparima; and in the slow beats of the ahuroa. She considers herself ha’api’i, a word of the Tahitian language meaning both to teach and to learn. As Kalei continues teaching, she learns and gains tenfold, the knowledge of her huraiti, her cultures, and her self. Kalei aspires to continue teaching, studying, and sharing the love of her people through Ori. She is an Arts Corps teaching artist, bringing Hula Mai `Oe to Hazel Valley Elementary students.
Ebo Barton is a Transgender and Non Binary, Black and Filipino poet and artist. Originally from Los Angeles, California, but really, the San Fernando Valley but no one ever knows where that is. As a representative of Seattle, they’ve been on 4 National Slam Teams and participated at 3 Individual World Poetry Slams. Their most notable poetry slam accolade is placing 5th in the world in 2016. Ebo wrote and directed the award-winning play, Rising Up. They and their work have been featured in Seattle Weekly, Seattle Gay News, Button Poetry and some other places. Their work touches on political issues from a personal point of view and often is birthed from the struggles of living in the identities that they are. Ebo believes in the power of language and art as a tool for revolution.
