ARTS IGNITE NEWCOMER YOUTH SUMMER ACADEMY

In how many languages can you say “fun?!”

For five weeks this summer, Arts Ignite, an international arts education organization based in NYC, will be doing just that at the Newcomer Youth Summer Academy with over 100 newcomer youth from around the world.

Since 2010, Arts Ignite (formerly ASTEP) has partnered with the International Rescue Committee’s Newcomer Youth Summer Academy (NYSA) to provide creative arts programming, including visual arts, storytelling, music, and dance classes for recently resettled youth across all five boroughs. Meeting the city’s growing need to provide services for young people impacted by immigration status, including refugees, asylum seekers and asylees, unaccompanied minors, and other youth who have arrived to the city within the past two years or less, NYSA provides a comprehensive summer experience for students that is culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and linguistically supportive as students prepare to enter the NYC public school system. The Summer 2022 session, the 13th iteration of this beloved program with Arts Ignite, was a jampacked, five-week exploration of the arts that served 105 recently resettled students aged 4-21 from 24 countries, speaking 23 languages and the Arts Ignite and IRC planning teams are currently gearing up for an even bigger 2023.

As a global organization committed to serving all young people and ensuring access to arts-rich education, Arts Ignite employs skilled Teaching Artists to provide arts educational experiences for youth who would otherwise not have access. Founded in 2006 by Broadway music director, Mary-Mitchell Campbell, Arts Ignite has served over 25,000 youth both domestically and around the world on four different continents with the aim to not necessarily train young people to be artists, but to think like one. With the mission to “develop agency in young people through the arts,” this past year, a team of twelve Arts Ignite teachers and staff members collaborated to cultivate a NYSA program focused on personal