By Michelle Bayat
This May UrbanGlass joined The Metropolitan Museum of Art for their Teens Take the Met (TTTM!) event. TTTM! brings together arts and cultural institutions from across NYC to host fun activities throughout the museum for teens ages 13-19, including art-making, performances, music, and more. This year marked the first in-person TTTM! event since the fall of 2019, and we were excited to be there getting teens inspired with free bead stringing art kits.
UrbanGlass ambassadors Ghislaine Sabiti, a Bead Project alum, and Michelle Bayat, a recent Pratt Institute graduate, shared information about our Fort Greene studios and the many glass techniques our freelance artist community works in. All the teens took a big interest in the glass artworks we displayed as examples, and some adults even approached us asking if they could purchase them! Videos showing the bead-making process sparked curiosity about our educational programming for teens, including youth camps in fusing, glassblowing, beadmaking, stained glass and more!
The teens were most excited about the activity we brought for them to do. Working with a combination of colorful plastic beads and special glass beads handmade by UrbanGlass artists, teens were able to make a wearable bracelet or necklace in their own unique style. Once we told the teens about the activity they immediately lit up, and soon enough the hundreds of kits we brought in were all snapped up. The whole evening went amazingly with many young people having found a new interest in glass! It is always a success when you can help spark inspiration for a new generation of artists.
UrbanGlass is committed to fostering community partnerships with organizations that share our passion for educating and inspiring young people. Please contact our Youth & Outreach Coordinator at karina@urbanglass.org to learn more.