Youngstown youth show off their ‘All Access’ abundance of talent

(Photos and video by Ellen Cedergreen for WSB)
As this weekend began, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in North Delridge was the place to be for a high-energy free talent showcase – the latest for the youth of Youngstown All-Access classes, available free to local teens (and a few for tweens). When the session ends, there’s a special showcase, and the latest one was on Friday night, including breakdancing faceoffs – one for high schools, one for middle schools. After the jump, video and photo highlights:

Middle-school breakdancers from Denny and Mercer faced off, as did their high-school counterparts from West Seattle and Chief Sealth. Hip-hop dancers showed off too, with instructor Maxie Jamal:

And live hip-hop music:

While All-Access classes are free to take, they’re not free to offer – the program needs donations to keep running, as Youngstown’s Alberto Mejia II explained while emceeing:

Back to the music: From the School of Rock:

They drew an attentive crowd, too:

It wasn’t all music and dance on Friday night – FEEST and Nature Consortium discussed their organic-gardening project – the big news is, now there are chickens! Program participants showed off eggs provided by those chickens:

April 6 is the next All Access session start; classes run in 10-week sessions after school from 3:30-5:30 pm, mostly for youth ages 13-18, with a few classes open to 10-12 year olds. Classes go ten weeks. A new session starts April 6.

Spring class information should be online soon – keep an eye on the All Access section of Youngstown’s website.

10 Replies to "Youngstown youth show off their 'All Access' abundance of talent"

  • Pinky March 20, 2011 (10:09 pm)

    Youngstown is a great asset to this community, especially to our artistic youth who have an outlet and a way to show off their talents here in West Seattle.

  • Karma March 20, 2011 (10:16 pm)

    Thanks, WSB, for this article; I’ve been curious about what’s going on at Youngstown and am so glad there are these fun, interesting things going on for young people in our community. Love the breakdancing photos… takes me back to being a teen in the ’80s!

  • Traci March 20, 2011 (10:23 pm)

    Awesome. It looks really well put together and a lot of fun… I appreciate that the All Access classes are free and RELEVANT to teen interest.

    Thanks WSB, as usual!

  • JL March 20, 2011 (10:24 pm)

    Thanks so much for highlighting this important program at the Youngstown Cultural Center. As a result of All Access , my teen is “hanging out with friends” and participating in a positive enriching activity.

  • two-oh-sickness March 20, 2011 (10:35 pm)

    Holy hell, someone get that 7-year-old kid in the first video onto “so you think you can dance.” That is crazy! I’ve never seen someone that small throw down like that.

  • Alberto March 21, 2011 (10:06 am)

    Thanks WS blog for their continued support and all of you for the wonderful comments. The young people of our community are truly amazing – through the arts, we only facilitate the sharing of creativity that each of us has inside. In addition to the cultural arts work at Youngstown, Delridge Neighborhood Development Association (DNDA) is doing some amazing neighborhood work in community and resident engagement and healthy eating and active living.

    In community and appreciation,

    Alberto Mejia II, M.P.A.
    Director
    Youngstown Cultural Arts Center,
    http://www.youngstownarts.org
    http://www.dnda.org

  • howie in seattle March 21, 2011 (11:03 am)

    Thanks for covering this “hidden gem” in West Seattle that gives some many youth (and their families) a place to build themselves a solid future based on skills and accomplishments.

  • ellenater March 21, 2011 (11:04 am)

    they really were mindblowing!

  • Kramer March 21, 2011 (5:44 pm)

    Great story and relevant to all of West Seattle. I like seeing that tweens/teens/and even adults are being served by a long time community asset. Keep the Youngstown updates (and video!) coming to WSB, I always enjoy these.

  • Rock School April 7, 2011 (9:21 pm)

    Thanks so much for your ongoing coverage and support of the All Access program. We have been thrilled to be a part of the program since the beginning and look forward to another quarter of classes. We will be taking new students in our Live Music Lab, Songwriting and Vocals and guitar classes.

    See you at the next showcase!

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