As many teens have inquired about the Arts Ambassador program and what it is all about, here goes!

The idea for the Arts Ambassadors grew from the Teen Arts Connection of many years ago.

The previous Teen Arts Connection was a small group of teens from several high schools who got together a few times a year , organized by MCAC, to participate in a variety of arts activities. As the participants graduated from high school, the group got smaller and smaller and finally ended.

The new Teen Arts Connection (TAC) started in the spring of 2007 with a survey at the Teen Arts Festival asking teens what kinds of arts and activities they enjoy and would like to see more of in the county. From that survey, the TAC emailed newsletter began, filled with news of activities, auditions, arts opportunities, performance and visual arts exhibitions, and  just fun teen art stuff.  Since Monmouth County is so large, the range of activities and locations covers a lot of places and options. Any teen interested in the newsletter can just sign up for it !

The Arts Ambassadors are teens who want to do even more and be involved more with the arts council-- such as being part of Teen Nite at the Monmouth Museum, helping with a giant give-away of stuff for other teens, and now that it is summer, deciding on what fun stuff they would like to do before school starts up in September. The Arts Ambassadors even had free tickets to a show at Count Basie this past June!

The Arts Ambassadors have been asked to post forum entries on this site, to share their thoughts about teen arts and artists. As the group grows, they will decide what they will do next, where and how. Teens have made really great suggestions about the Teen Arts Festival, and how to make it even better. 

Several Arts Ambassadors are involved with summer projects, such as the Kean Camp at Keansburg Library and the mural painting teen group at Howell Library, and will be posting onto the forum soon. More projects, in music and mural painting in Belmar, will be starting up too, check belmararts.org for that info.

If you are interested in being an Arts Ambassador and being part of this dynamic group, let us know by just sending an email to sbt@monmoutharts.org !