Creative Solutions Summer Program
Young Audiences of North Texas, now Big Thought

Of the 60 teens selected every year for Creative Solutions, the majority live in low-income neighborhoods with little or no access to constructive summer activities. Creative Solutions provides a powerful alternative: a six-week "art boot camp" for teens on probation, through a successful partnership between the Dallas County Juvenile Department and Big Thought (formerly Young Audiences of North Texas). Creative Solutions offers the teens professional paid experiences in either performing or visual arts and allows them to develop job skills while finding their creative niche.

Students choosing a performance track work with professional theater artists to write, produce, and perform an original film or musical play, based on their personal experiences. The film or play is then presented publicly four times in a professional or college theater. On a parallel track, visual arts participants receive hands-on instruction in a professional-level studio, where they work with practicing artists. The students' artwork is then mounted and displayed in a local gallery or museum for four weeks after an opening reception, which coincides with the performance opening.

Public performances and exhibitions of the students' work are central to the program's mission of educating the public about the abilities and potential of these teens. In addition, demonstrating their talent to parents, guardians, and the community increases the students' self-confidence and sense of accomplishment.

Another feature central to this program is the use of two kinds of mentors, artist mentors and peer mentors. A strong indicator of Creative Solutions' high artistic quality is found in the care taken in choosing and training the artist mentors, who are hand-picked from a roster of Young Audiences-trained teaching artists. Artist mentors are chosen for professional expertise in their own artistic disciplines and their ability to inspire and establish a rapport with teens. Peer mentors are selected from past Creative Solutions participants and charged with assisting the new participants in their work.

World-class artist mentors, high-quality materials, and a professional environment with high expectations all contribute to the exceptional work that is routinely produced by Creative Solutions youth.