This fall at the Octavia Project is busy with launching our new Youth Advisory Board and collaborating on some exciting partnerships!
But before we share fall updates, we wanted to briefly reflect on our 11th summer. But before we share fall updates, Camp and Institute participants developed their STEM, art, and storytelling skills, flexed their leadership muscles, and fostered a welcoming community where they felt seen, heard, and able to freely express themselves. In the spirit of community, they shared their work with relatives, friends, and OP supporters at our culminating Summer Showcase, hosted by the Center for Art, Research and Alliances. It was beautiful witnessing the depth of what they learned about community, creative collaboration, themselves, and what it means to be a young person in this moment.
If you’re looking to relive the magic, you can watch the entirety of our Summer Showcase here!
And, if you want to see more of the work that participants did this summer, you can play their narrative based Twine games here. The games run the gamut from spooky horror tales, to magical realist creature plots, to sci fi thrillers. There are so many adventures to go on!
Now that fall is upon us, we’re well underway building our Youth Advisory Board! By the end of this year, we will convene a group of Octavia Project alumni aged 19+ who will commit to joining this body for at least a year. Thanks to your support, our Youth Advisory Board will meet regularly to lead alumni support initiatives, advise on program development, and share what their time at the Octavia Project has meant for them. We’ve been excited by the interest that alumni have shown for this initiative, and we can’t wait to share more information about our board members later this year!
We have one more fall teaser: we have some exciting partnerships leading us through fall into winter. We’re thrilled to be continuing our Constellations Mentorship program in partnership with Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers and to be participating in a printmaking workshop through the Storefront for Art and Architecture in conjunction with their exhibition Território vivo by Sertão Negro. We can’t wait to share more about these, and other partnerships, next month.
Thank you for being an important partner in making this critical work happen.