Program areas at Totem Star
The Studio - Weekly after school open studio with workstations and recording resources for five to six youth at a time. Many youth bring in peer collaborators for their sessions. The small group structure allows for close mentorship opportunities for youth from teaching artists and full access to audio engineering equipment. Youth sign up for studio times on their own to encourage independent planning and organization. Studio sessions are quickly filled each week, demonstrating our youth's ongoing interest and dedication to their creative work.
The Stage - Totem Star hosts an artist showcase twice a year plus two open mic nights for The Stage. Not only does The Stage offer opportunities to help plan and produce a show, but it is also a chance for youth to share their artistic voice and take creative risks in front of their peers and communities.
Partnerships - As a tenant of the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in Southwest Seattle, Totem Star is able to reach some of the most diverse, vulnerable communities of youth in our region. Totem star secured successful partnerships with Seattle Public School's high schools including a curated series of guest artists and music industry professionals for a history class that explored the music of different eras including the Summer of Love and the Civil Rights Movement and a math class that explored how math and music are intertwined. Totem Star was also able to partner with Sony Electronics to create a short film highlighting the important work our organization is doing and the future of the organization.
Other Program Support - Activities across program lines including but not limited to program evaluation, budgeting, program coordination, etc.
Artist Booking - Continuing a successful initial run of artist booking in 2017 through 2019, we partnered with many venues and organizations in 2020 to provide youth performers for their events. Our youth are always paid for live performances, and they gain professional experience, both as performers and as independent contractors. In 2020, we booked 52 Totem Star Artists for 13 paid gigs at local community events. Artist booking is an opportunity to change the narrative on how the work and time of artists, especially young artists, is valued. We hope that our approach to always paying artists fairly for their work and time will make waves throughout the community.
Totem Star Leadership Collective - Aligned with the school calendar, the Totem Star Leadership Collective (TLC) is our youth advisory board. The TLC meets monthly and makes recommendations on policies, improving programs, and more.
Lavender Sessions - Lavender Sessions is a new space for women and non-binary youth to share music and stories and provide mutual support for one another.