YC Stories
Youth Creates is 7 Stages’ training program providing experiential learning and performance opportunities for teenagers. Through playwriting, design, and performance, students collaborate to create an original production.
To celebrate 20 years of the program, we started collecting stories from the alumni who made Youth Creates what it is today!
I was initially a dancer with Moving in the Spirit and learned about Youth Creates through their partnership during the summers. During my time with YC I was able to intern during the year, be a part of the first group of students to participate in Bootcamp in the Netherlands and was blessed enough to go back again. My experience in the program reiterated to me what my passions were, while allowing me the access to conceptualize what it takes to produce a full theatre production.
Since graduating from the program I’ve moved to Chicago and graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a BA in Music/Vocal Performance. Over the past year I’ve acted in a short film which has been featured in three film festivals thus far, performed with Moving in the Spirit for their upcoming work in progress, and will be on tour this summer with Maverick City Music as an official member of their choir on the “Kingdom Tour.”
Hey there, I’m Geoffrey! Since moving on from YC in 2014, I went to Emory University, where I got a degree in Theater Studies and Painting.
I’m now a painter, tattoo artist, and performer. I’ve got murals up in Decatur, Little 5, Cabbage Town and Bankhead. I’m traveling all over to tattoo. I’m also playing guitar in the local music scene, and am working on my first album.
YC was an incredible time for me to work deeply with other creatives. That time helped me further my own style, but most importantly introduced me to a community of artists I’m still very much a part of. Those years in YC taught me practical skills, provided fresh opportunities, and let me work with some truly delightful humans. I wish you well on your journey.
The time I spent with the Youth Creates program has definitely shaped the adult artist that I’ve become. Spending time overseas in the Netherlands definitely opened my eyes to the world around me. It helped me grow up and appreciate different cultures. My eight or so years in the program were artistically fulfilling. They informed my artistic voice and taught me compassion and compromise with love.
Since graduating the program I have starred in many short films and even a couple features. I started my own film company Trash Mouth Productions in late 2021. I am also a Local IATSE 479 film union member. I wouldn’t be happy doing anything else besides art.
IG @trashmouthproductions
My time at YC can only be described as revolutionary. From my start at 7 Stages with sitting on the couch after school in the office to the one and only Heidi Howard forcing me to the stage, YC has shaped every fiber of my being and has constructed a future in theatre that would not have been possible without it. Thank you for my start in theatre with self-expression leading the way, my cultural expansion through creating in the Netherlands, and the lifelong friends I have gained along the way.
Since leaving YC I have graduated from Dekalb School of the Arts (2017) as an acting major, North Carolina A&T (2021) with a professional theatre with a concentration in Acting degree and am currently completing my master’s in arts management degree at Carnegie Mellon University (2023). I have had the opportunity to teach children acting, work administratively in the theatre, and have continued to act onstage with my most recent accomplishment being Joanne in Rent.
I’m Juno and I did YC 2015 through 2018! I am a senior at UGA double majoring in film and sociology.
My YC experience is a significant part of who I am. Through YC and boot camp I learned not only to collaborate but to take up space without being embarrassed. I’m still exploring career possibilities but YC only helped to solidify my dream to live and work where art and human relationships meet!
Hey Devi! My name is Tia! A YC memory from 2015: Looking up at the stars, we all brought out our instruments and sang what we felt. We made songs from random prompts (like spider monkey? 🤷🏽♀️😂) and made interpretive dances. It was truly a creative space. No expectations, just art.
That moment taught me the importance of presence. I still use that today; if I feel uninspired, I take a break from technology and just enjoy the space around me. What have you learned from YC that still inspires you today?
The days spent training under such powerful artists in such a rare and safe place in this world gave me space to grow. YC consciously shaped and guided my being long after my attendance as a young artist and intern.
Now I strive to add to such a community by establishing my own organization – built around a youth program heavily inspired by YC.
In my travels, networking and growing, I’ve utilized many of the skills developed in YC as A Bug Bounty Hunter, An MC, A Musician, A Choreographer, A Tech, A Defender, A Translator, A Teacher, As the “Solar-Powered Bard” that I strive to be, YC & the Queens & Kings that decided to share in knowledge with me will forever push me forward. Thank you YC for saving me.
Youth Creates has definitely been a life changing experience for me. Summer of 2014 was when I initially joined YC as a foreign exchange student from Israel. I loved the program so much that I came back the following summer. I can honestly say that YC felt like a “butterfly effect” for me by how randomly the bridge of events occurred to bring me here all the way from Israel which completely changed the path I decided to take in my life after that. I met so many incredible people that I am grateful to still be friends with to this day. YC also gave me the courage and will to move to Atlanta in 2018 despite fear and doubt of the unknown.
I am currently a senior at SCAD with an illustration major and acting minor. about to graduate. I am also tattooing, illustrating and doing freelance graphic design at the moment.
IG: @a_place_in_eden
YC helped me to gain confidence as an artist and taught me the importance of working with others. Each person’s experience in this world is so different and helps to inform our art. The art we create in collaboration with those around us has the power to change the world.
Since participating in Youth Creates, I graduated from Guilford College in 2019 with a degree in Technical Theater, focused in Lighting Design and Stage Management, and now work in theater.
Hello everyone! I am currently a Senior majoring in Film & Media, graduating early from Georgia State whoop whoop! The first glimpse I got of Youth Creates was the 2016 show “Dig” and at that moment I knew I wanted to join. Best decision I’ve ever made. I was quiet and very reserved at first, but YC taught me how to use my voice and to OWN it lol. It really is a safe space for your creativity without judgment.
Now I’m speaking up and exploring the art side of me as a young adult. There was also the opportunity to meet and create with people my age internationally! What an experience! but yes the friends, smiles and memories I have from YC and Bootcamp will always have a place in my heart.
I realize now that Youth Creates has shaped me in more ways than one. Initially, performing and sharing my experience gave me butterflies, and I wanted to learn to control that. I know now that everyone all over the world gets butterflies. Youth Creates teaches you to mold those butterflies into something to tell the world. Most of all, Youth Creates is here to remind you that the world embraces you for you. So let it shine!
Hi! My name is Larissa, I am from Amsterdam in The Netherlands, and I have been part of Youth Creates as a student in 2016 and as an intern in 2018 and 2019.
Youth Creates has been one of the most incredible and life-changing experiences of my life, teaching me not only about the beautiful arts and inspiring me to pursue music, but also about myself, inspiring me to use my voice and to grow as a person to become who I am today.
I am a singer-songwriter, guitarist, and aspiring music producer. In 2020, I co-founded a creative youth platform called ‘THE PACK’ at International Theater Amsterdam. I also organize local music events and work as a freelance producer for television, film, and theater.
Youth Creates, together with the incredible people I’ve met and the friends I’ve made, have a special place in my heart, and I am forever grateful to be part of the 7Stages Family.
There are so many beautiful things that I could say about my time with Youth Creates, and all of them would be true. I saw my first show at the age of 6 (Freddie Hendricks & Youth Ensemble of Atlanta’s “School House Rocks”) at 7 Stages and knew that I was destined to be on one of their stages. I didn’t know that I had manifested exactly that. Many years later my mom heard about Youth Creates from my cousin who starred in the YEA show. From the Age of 12 to now, YC has impacted my life in so many ways. I moved into TV & Film production with the skills that Heidi, Mack, Del & the rest of the gang taught. I met so many incredible talents along the way as well.
I will forever brag about my time with YC & the fact that It gave myself and many other creative children the outlet to just BE. Now I’m 34 and a parent to a 6yr old with an imagination and a passion for creating just as I had; and I know that YC will be a part of her life when the time presents itself as well. That’s just how the 7 Stages family works. Thank you Youth Creates & 7 Stages for giving a kid like me a chance.
xoxo, Britany L. White (YC, 2003-beyond)
Do YOU have a YC story to share? Contact Devi with your story and a recent photo of yourself!
