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YOUTH PROGRAMS
The future of the arts begins with the young dancers and storytellers we nurture today.
At JGCO, we cultivate an environment where passion, creativity, and cultural expression thrive.
Youth Programs
The future of the arts begins with the young dancers and storytellers we nurture today. At JGCO, we cultivate an environment where passion, creativity, and cultural expression thrive. Our Youth Programs provide high-quality, low-cost arts education that instills discipline, confidence, and artistic excellence, ensuring that every student has the opportunity to grow, regardless of background. Through the immersive training of our Cultural Arts Program and the direct support of our Young Artists Scholarship, we empower the next generation to embrace their heritage and step into their potential as artists and changemakers.
Cultural Arts Program
Offered on Saturdays at JHS 113 in Downtown Brooklyn, CAP provides professional instruction in ballet, modern, African dance, hip-hop, jazz, tap, drumming, theater, and vocal technique, all at a subsidized cost aligned with JGCO’s mission of equitable arts access. The primary goal of CAP is to ensure that youth in historically underserved neighborhoods have access to high-quality cultural arts training often unavailable in public schools or financially out of reach. Beyond technique, we teach students to honor the cultural histories and traditions that shape the arts they study, fostering belonging, pride, and empowerment. Students perform alongside our dance theatre company in large-scale cultural productions such as our annual Black History Month celebration, which uplifts stories and struggles often excluded from mainstream narratives. Families benefit from reliable, affordable full-day programming that eases caregiving pressures while providing a safe, nurturing haven for growth.
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YouTube Link:
Cultural Arts Program Curriculum
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Cultural Arts Program Curriculum
Program Structure:
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Levels of Training: Students progress through a series of levels, each building upon foundational skills and techniques across various disciplines.
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Weekly Class Schedule: Students engage in multiple weekly classes, each designed to develop their technical proficiency, artistic expression, and cultural awareness.
Core Disciplines:
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Dance: Ballet, Modern, Jazz, African Dance, Hip-Hop, Tap
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Creative Arts: Drumming, Theater, Vocal Technique
Each discipline is carefully designed to not only improve technical skills but also to encourage creative expression and understanding of cultural heritage.
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Performances & Exposure:
All students are given opportunities to perform in community showcases and year-end performances, including large-scale performances with the Dance Theatre company, enabling them to experience the connection between culture, artistry, and audience.
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Instructional Approach:
Led by BIPOC teaching artists (85% African American), many of whom are alumni of JGCO or major companies like Alvin Ailey and Martha Graham School, our instruction blends technique with culturally responsive pedagogy. With a 12:1 student-teacher ratio, classes integrate Black history and identity exploration through dance, music, and theater. Each lesson builds toward year-end performances that celebrate student growth and community storytelling.
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Program Highlights:
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Intensive dance training alongside creative arts exploration.
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Cultural education is embedded into each class to foster global awareness and empathy.
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Performance opportunities that allow students to track their artistic growth and share their talents with the community.
Young Artists Scholarship
The Young Artists Program is a full scholarship and mentorship initiative founded organically from Jamel Gaines’s recognition that many gifted students could not afford even the already low-cost tuition of Creative Outlet’s programs. When students expressed that their families could no longer support their training, Gaines stepped in personally to ensure their education did not end.
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Open in format rather than bound by a formal curriculum, the program supports diverse youth ages 12 to 25 with talent in ballet, modern, African, jazz, tap, hip-hop, theater, or vocal training. Young Artists receive close mentorship from Creative Outlet’s highly experienced, all-BIPOC teaching staff, all of which are seasoned educators, Broadway performers, and alumni of renowned dance companies, who guide students through their training and creative original work.
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Since its founding, the program has reached over 500 students, many of whom have gone on to professional success in dance companies, on Broadway, and in film, television, and arts administration. Others have become doctors, lawyers, soldiers, and Ivy League graduates. Regardless of their path, Creative Outlet continues to support them as members of our extended family, nurturing the whole individual through opportunity, mentorship, and community.
Young Artists Alumni
Coming Soon
YOUNG ARTISTS ALUMNI TESTIMONIAL
"The Young Artists Program shifted how I think about my own creative work. As a photography student, I’m used to observing from the outside, but being here made me feel a part of something. Watching these dancers grow, struggle, and support each other showed me how art really happens in the process. The environment here gives students space to be themselves, which I didn’t always have early on. Seeing that kind of confidence built so young is powerful. It made me approach my own practice with more honesty and less pressure. Art feels different when it’s nurtured in the community."
Aaran Loux