After school, Kiara walks into WMCAT and knows she belongs to a community. “When I come inside, I see everybody chilling in this calm space, knowing that they’re safe, and knowing that they are in a nice, comfortable environment where they can express themselves,” she says.
A senior at CA Frost High School, Kiara Webley has been participating in WMCAT’s Teen Arts + Tech Program for almost three years. She tries a new studio each semester — ceramics, animation, coding, digital illustration, and video production so far — so she “can meet new people and learn different styles of [art].”
Kiara works with her fellow teen artist behind the camera during a video production shoot.
That opportunity to meet new people is just as exciting to Kiara as the creative skills she gains in her studios. “Everybody’s from different schools so we have different backgrounds and ideas towards things,” she says. WMCAT is the place where they all come together.
“I feel like I belong here,” Kiara says.
And she also creates belonging for others. Program Coordinator Carolina Lopez-Ruiz says, “Kiara participates and invites others to participate too, which helps us continue building community and creative confidence with students at WMCAT.”
Learn more about the Teen Arts + Tech Program at artstech.wmcat.org.
