Karen Jolicoeur
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I'm Karen Jolie Kerr, executive director of Creative Art Works, and it's my pleasure to speak with you today about the vital need for and positive impacts of our creative workforce development programs.
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CAW is a 39 year old youth development nonprofit working in the visual and multimedia arts.
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Our long standing public art youth employment programs are provided in direct alignment with our mission to equip New York City's young people with essential tools and skills, to connect them to their communities, academic lives, and career opportunities, and to inspire new possibilities for the future.
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Each year, among other things, we provide nearly 300 teens and and young adults with apprenticeships in the creation of large scale public art and multimedia like documentary film and character design.
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These are offered in partnership with companies commissioning youth created art, city and state agencies like DYCD and the family courts, career and technical education high schools, and more.
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These programs, the most cost and labor intensive that we run, with critical support from cultural affairs, city council, and private foundations, not only enhance art and design skills, but also develop collaboration, client, communication, and leadership skills, those coveted soft skills so sought by employers.
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And they provide remuneration and real work experience on resume.
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In New York City, it really does start with the arts.
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Comptroller Lander's recent spotlight on our creative economy here observed that it is a defining economic sector for the city on par with finance, real estate, or law.
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And yet, these pathways can be opaque or exclusionary to the young people we serve.
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Programs like ours develop a pipeline for teens and young adults to learn about and gain access to creative and adjacent careers.
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They also provide meaningful work for some of New York's fine teaching artists.
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A former youth apprentice is our full time program coordinator, and several have become teaching artist assistants.
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The skills our youth apprentices learn serve them well wherever they may go.
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This past summer, 90% of participants said they applied the skills they learned to other parts of their lives, 100% felt well prepared for their client pitch, and 99% feel their creative skills improved over the course of the program.
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We also saw a 41% increase in those professing comfort with public speaking.
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So it's encouraging that these pathways have, generated your attention here today, and we look forward to working together to sustain and expand these essential opportunities for New York City youth, our future workforce.
