YAYA
YAYA (Young Aspirations/Young Artists) is a working studio and youth arts center in New Orleans that was founded in 1988. YAYA empowers creative young people through educational and entrepreneurial experiences in the visual arts. Their signature program of youth development through entrepreneurship is now replicated around the United States. For more information about the programs and history of YAYA, Inc., visit their website at yayainc.com.
The Ana & Adeline Foundation is an independent charitable organization that complements YAYA’s programs by providing its artists and alumni with resources for advancing their professional development and fulfilling their personal artistic goals. The foundation commits to this ambition by offering the YAYA alumni Grants and Scholarships and Workshops. The Foundation also makes grants to YAYA for projects that engage their artists with a broader national and international visual arts community through exchanges, travel, and the creation and presentation of artwork.
​
Paint the World
2021-2022
YAYA Paint the World
Summer Travel Grant
​
Paint the World creates opportunities for high school artists to serve as ambassadors while expanding their own cultural understanding and general education through travel. Many YAYA artists do not have opportunities to travel and Paint the World gives them the chance to step outside of their lives in New Orleans and to explore other communities. Paint the World broadens horizons through personal and career growth, college exploration, art projects, and educational workshop partnerships.
Paint the World is also made possible by the host organizations and support from Crafting the Future. In the summer of 2021, two YAYA artists attended Penland School of Craft and two artists attended RISD's Virtual Pre-College Program. In Summer 2022, YAYA artist Jeremiah Brown and YAYA's Glass Director attended a Glass Art Society Conference in Tacoma, Washington. Two artists traveled to study at the Pittsburgh Glass Center and four artists attended the Crafting the Future Teen Takeover at the Appalachian Center for Craft. In partnership with Autonoma Next, a group of YAYA artists explored Venice and Murano, Italy where they created glass art alongside local students.
Infusion Grant
2020-2021
YAYA Infusion Grant
Covid-19 Relief
​
YAYA's annual Paint the World: Summer Travel Grant was replaced by Infusion Grant: Covid-19 Relief in the year 2020. Since travel and group activities were restricted, this grant helped sustain YAYA programs and staff while the world dealt with the global pandemic.
Paint the World
2019-2020
YAYA Paint the World
Summer Travel Grant
​
Paint the World creates opportunities for high school artists to serve as ambassadors while expanding their own cultural understanding and general education through travel. Many YAYA artists do not have opportunities to travel and Paint the World gives them the chance to step outside of their lives in New Orleans and to explore other communities. Paint the World broadens horizons through personal and career growth, college exploration, art projects, and educational workshop partnerships.
In the summer of 2019, Paint the World, also made possible by the host organizations and support from Crafting the Future, hosted sixteen artists with exchanges to: Disney Imagineers, Disneyworld’s behind-the-scenes studios, Orlando, Florida; The Center for Craft and The Village Potters, Ashville, North Carolina; Lower Eastside Girls Club, New York City; and Studio Everything, Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Paint the World
2018-2019
YAYA Paint the World
Summer Travel Grant
Paint the World creates opportunities for high school artists to serve as ambassadors while expanding their own cultural understanding and general education through travel. Many YAYA artists do not have opportunities to travel and Paint the World gives them the chance to step outside of their lives in New Orleans and to explore other communities. Paint the World broadens horizons through personal and career growth, college exploration, art projects, and educational workshop partnerships.
In the summer of 2018, Paint the World sent ten teens on arts exchanges across the United States: The Center for Craft in Asheville, North Carolina, the Lower Eastside Girls Club in New York City, The Oxbow School in Napa, California; and Studio Everything in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Paint the World was also made possible by a grant from The Windgate Foundation. Learn more about YAYA’s Paint the World program here.
Prospect.4
2017-2018
YAYA/Prospect. 4
Satellite Exhibition Grant
​
YAYA’s P. 4 satellite exhibition grant made it possible for them to mount their first significant exhibition at the YAYA Arts Center in coordination with Prospect New Orleans, a citywide contemporary art triennial. In July 2017, YAYA launched an open call for alumni artists to propose projects for a P.4 satellite exhibition at the Arts Center. Renowned curator Valerie Cassel juried the exhibition, which was organized by local curator and artist Nicolas Aziz. The exhibition, titled Orenda, opened November 16th and featured works by Jourdan Barnes, Gerard Caliste, and Level Artist Collective.
The exhibition allowed YAYA to leverage the Arts Center building to create new opportunities for YAYAs of all ages. The current generation of YAYA artists had the chance to live with professional work in their space for more than three months. The exhibiting artists enjoyed the exposure to P. 4’s national and international audience. Overall, the exhibition helped the entire YAYA team, including its teen artists, understand new ways to use their space and to work with professional artists.
