04/22/2026
✨ For over 25 years, Brooklyn Arts Exchange’s annual Teen Artist Exchange (formerly Teen Arts Conference) has invited teen performing arts companies and individual artists (ages 13-18) across New York City to come together as part of a wider cultural community of learners and practitioners.
The 2026 Teen Artist Exchange was a vibrant, joy-filled gathering that brought together young artists from across the city for an evening of creativity, collaboration, and inspiration.
Youth representatives from Irondale Ensemble Project, Dancewave, The People's Theatre, Hause of Hawk, Center for Family Life (Sunset Park), and BAX came together to watch and share works in progress and generate new ideas for each other's pieces. Performance educators led workshops that included:
✨ Absurdist Clown
✨ Salsa Dancing
✨ Dance Freedom
This free event for invited teen participants offers a dynamic range of theater, dance, drag, and interdisciplinary performance workshops, along with opportunities for sharing original performance work, peer mentorship, resource exchange, and creative professional development.
The reflections of the young people captured the spirit of the evening,
"Watching performances inspired what I might make in the future."
"I'm in awe of the creativity and collaboration...there is so much diversity and talent!"
Moments of connection emerged through both performance and conversation, reminding everyone present why spaces like this matter. As one young artist put it,
"Art is a beautiful way to remind ourselves all the ways we can create."
And perhaps most powerfully,
"Art gives me hope and it makes me feel powerful!"
The event was a celebration of young voices and artistry that we won't soon forget!
📸: Ndaru Kartikaningsih
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