There is an overwhelming need for more diverse youth presence in the arts.

Application fees, shipping fees, printing fees can all add up to a significant burden, especially for young artists. In 2018, I co-founded an organization called Student Art Spaces to uplift these unheard youth voices. We want to break down financial barriers, along with racial and gender barriers for minority artists. To do our part in changing the status quo, we created this space, by youth, for youth. Our first gallery, titled "The Modern Youth Identity", exhibited 40 youth artists free of cost thanks to local grants and our Kickstarter campaign.

Teen artistswere invited to interpret this theme for the Seattle-based gallery. Mental health crises, political change, and other Gen-Z musings reigned among the pieces.

We received pieces from all over the world, each one telling a story of a youth experience. "The Slaughter of the Songbirds" by Autumn Blaylock, a March For Our Lives attendee, unapologetically expressed the anxiety surrounding school shootings. Claudia Marlenne Jasso Garcia mused, on her piece, about the idea of strength in her community following the El Paso tragedy. In her artist statement for her piece “Love”, Angela Bi states that she “wanted to portray the darker side of Asian families and the meaning of love within high expectations”. Many others, like Alexia Giselle Gonzalez who painted “Rest Easy”, expressed their thoughts on mental health. These are just a few of the stories that our passionate, unyielding artists have to show. Through conversations with the attendees, many of which are much older, we could both compare and contrast our life experiences, and talk about the issues that plague society today.

Through our endeavour, it has become painfully clear how many artists’ stories are overshadowed by those who are more financially secure/advantaged. To do our part in changing that, we created this show, by youth, for youth.

We will be hosting a second youth gallery this coming Spring.