YAX In the News: This Toronto Star article highlights our "pipelet parklet" made of pipes and reclaimed wood currently built by our Advanced Architecture Firm students. The parklet was installed in the Mission outside John O'Connell High School in 2017.

Huge thanks to everyone who made this parklet possible: our Architecture Firm youth architects; Kali Gordon and Craig Hollow, former YAX Architecture faculty artists; Chris Wood, YAX Construction Adjunct Faculty from John O'Connell High School; Robin Abad Ocubillo, YAX Board Member and Urban Designer with the San Francisco Planning Department; and John Francis, manager of the San Francisco parklet program.

KQED music editor Nastia Voynovskaya visited YAX to write about our creation and transformation of [x]space. The article, Sealed for 10 Years, an Excelsior Butcher Shop Becomes a Vibrant Teen Art Space, showcases how we created a “vital space for diverse student artists”. The piece shares the importance of this type of space in San Francisco and its importance to youth. It was also picked up as a feature in the New York Times California Today newsletter. We want to emphasize that we couldn’t do this work without support from the YAX philanthropic community. Donate to keep our work going and come see it in person at ArtMart. 

On an overcast August afternoon, [x]space is bustling with dozens of teenagers, parents and neighbors eager to see summertime work by Youth Art Exchange students. A group of girls hawk screen-printed, hand-dyed patches and tote bags with slogans like "Melt I.C.E.!" Succulents in handmade planters hang from wooden "living walls" built by students themselves. At one point, kids beeline to the music studio in the back, where videos they recorded and edited screen in surround sound and high definition.

The neon pink meat hooks hanging above the music studio are the only evidence that just a year ago, this vibrant Excelsior art space was a derelict butcher shop that had been abruptly sealed shut and left as-is for 10 years.

Carol Kocivar from KALW local San Francisco public radio spoke with two of our Youth Advisory Board Members, Mia Deno from our Fashion class and Fiona Gray from our Printmaking class, and our Program Manager Sofia Airaghi at [x]space arts hub on "Looking at Education." Listen to learn about our free arts programs for San Francisco public high school students and why YAX is necessary for San Francisco youth.

Fiona and Mia speak about how when they started taking classes at Youth Art Exchange, they had no experience with printmaking and fashion design, and YAX gave them the resources, mentorship, and confidence to pursue these art forms and develop leadership their skills.

Click here to listen!