Express Yourself Café
Express Yourself Café is a cooperative arts initiative for Rutherford County high school students led by local literacy organization Read to Succeed, the Youth Culture and Arts Center (YCAC), Artsy Mommas, the Business Education Partnership (BEP), Murfreesboro Parks and Recreation, the Linebaugh Public Library, General Mills Foundation, Barnes and Noble, and other partners.
EYC programs provide writing and arts workshops for teens which are led by local professional artisans and that include mentoring sessions on students works and encourages group discussions. Students learn about developing their own artistic talents, critiquing and editing one another’s work, as well as about careers involving writing.
EYC held its innaugural Express Yourself Arts Conference on October 31, 2007 for nearly 100 students and teachers from local high schools. Students were accepted into the conference through an application process and participated in writing and visual art workshops, a discussion panel of professional artist from the music, writing and fine art fields, attended a presentation by renown sci-fi author A.C. Crispin, creator of popular Star Wars and Star Trek novelisations.
For more information on the EYC workshops and other arts resources for teens, visit any of the following web sites or email .
www.myspace.com/xpressyrself
www.youthculturecenter.org
www.readtosucceed.org.
