Our Executive Director Raffaella Falchi Macias kicks off our 20 year celebration!

Valeria G. took Darkroom Photography classes at YAX from 2013-2015. Valeria is proud to be a first-generation college graduate and mixed-media artist. She recently graduated from UCD with a B.A. in Communications. As a San Franciscan, she was given many opportunities to involve herself in the arts which lead her to build various passions. One important aspect of her identity is that she is part of a punk and metal subculture in the Bay Area.

Marcus Lee took YAX classes in various disciplines from 2005-2009 and graduated from June Jordan School for Equity in 2009. Marcus Lee is a Painter, Illustrator, Sculptor, Muralist, Martial Artist of Capoeira, and Water Graffiti artist. He received his BFA in Painting/Drawing from California College of the Arts in 2013 and is making art in San Francisco. Marcus was fortunate enough to participate in an off campus after school art program, Out of Site (now YAX). He had the freedom to explore: reusable crafting, Graffiti styles character development, Afro-Brazilian Percussion, Carnival parade float construction, improv, architectural designing, and collaborative mural painting.

R. Max Gavrich took YAX darkroom photography and printmaking from 2006-2010 and graduated from Lowell High School in 2010. He returned to YAX in 2018 to teach our darkroom photography class for a year before starting his Masters in Photography at Yale. R. Max Gavrich (he/him/his) was born and raised in Bernal Heights. He is a graduate of Lowell High and a former Youth Art Exchange student and instructor. Currently he is a first year MFA candidate at the Yale School of Art in New Haven, CT.

Week 7 of 20 Years, 20 Stories features Mia Deno, Lowell High School '19, YAX Fashion Design 2016-2019. Mia attended Youth Art Exchange's fashion design class from her spring semester of freshman year until the end of her senior year and through the summer, she was an intern for the social justice pop-up shop. She was the teaching assistant for the fashion design class since her sophomore year and was a Youth Advisory Board member since her junior year until she graduated. Mia now attends Kent State University for Fashion Design and will be a sophomore this upcoming fall. Her art account is instagram.com/deno.jpg and her personal account is instagram.com/miajdeno.

Week 9 of 20 Years, 20 Stories features Isabel Li, Lowell High School '13. From 2010-2013, Isabel took percussion and music production, a video and web summer internship, and was a Teaching Assistant for a percussion summer internship. Isabel currently works as a publicist in NYC and continues to drum and produce. instagram.com/isabeltofu

"My favorite moments have been performing outside of BART stations in the Mission with the percussion crew and performing things that we learned from professional percussionists from all around the Bay Area... [At YAX] you can build your creative skills and interact with professionals in an artistic field that you want to explore more. All the friendships and confidence that you build you can take with you and have it guide you for the rest of your life."

Week 10 of 20 Years, 20 Stories features Fiona Gray, Mission High School '19. From 2015-2019, Fiona took printmaking and served on our Youth Advisory Board. Fiona is a rising sophomore at the George Washington University.

"I feel like I really got a family, a community at YAX. It really helped me be able to be creative, and gave me this outlet throughout high school where I didn't really have to worry about where I was going to get my materials, or what time I could have to devote to art. It was amazing to have a free space where I could do pretty much what I wanted to creatively, and there were always people who were there supporting me, and I could be there with my friends. It was an amazing time, I loved it there."

Week 11 of 20 Years, 20 Stories features Eric Chan, Balboa '12. Eric took YAX's Public Architecture class in 2010. He was born and raised in the Excelsior district and now lives in Oakland. Eric works at Asian Pacific Environmental Network, which focuses on environmental justice issues affecting Asian immigrant and refugee populations in California, and SF Transit Riders, which focuses on making MUNI more accessible and equitable. He is also pursuing his Masters in Public Health at UC Berkeley. Eric talks about how taking architecture at YAX sparked his joy for public health.

"I think my favorite artmaking memory with YAX was when we had this pop-up event where we were out in the Excelsior District on Mission Street. We took over two metered parking spots and transformed it into a parklet where we had public seating available, we rolled out astroturf, we had interactive activities, music, and snacks. I thought it was such a creative way of re-envisioning space and reclaiming space for the benefit of the community...it was inspiring to see how one small transformation was able to bring a lot of joy to the community."

Week 12 of 20 Years, 20 Stories features Kseniya Romanenko, the Academy-SF at McAteer '14. Kseniya is finishing her senior semester studying French and Sociology at UC Berkeley. She talks about the impact taking YAX Architecture classes all four years of high school had on her and the public architecture projects she worked on.

"The relationships that I have built at YAX were a great support system from all the adults. I felt very comfortable coming to them when something was not right in my life - personal, or in school, or in the program. And a lot of friendships, I was very happy that I got to hang out with a lot of likeminded creative individuals... I felt like at YAX that even though we (students) were so different we had that same passion for art. Happy 20th anniversary to YAX, you're helping youth find themselves - at least, that's what you helped me do."

Week 13 of 20 Years, 20 Stories features Vernard Ramirez, Lowell High School '19. Vernard is a sophomore pursuing his Bachelor of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. He took YAX Fashion Design in his sophomore year of high school and Architecture Firm in his junior and senior years. He also served on the Youth Advisory Board. Vernard talks about his favorite memory at YAX of the 2017 opening of the Pipelet Parklet, a project by the YAX Advanced Architecture Firm class, as well as how taking Architecture at YAX made him want to pursue it as a career.

"I discovered that architecture was my passion and YAX definitely helped me figure out both where i stand as an artist in my community and as an architect. I really appreciated how supportive and inclusive the YAX community was and I felt really supported to take on any artistic endeavor that I had. I had a lot of teachers that helped shape my perception of architecture and everyone – by that I mean teachers to the faculty and also my fellow colleagues at YAX – definitely pushed me to do the best I could. There's really nothing like YAX out there. YAX is an amazing organization, just the idea of having free, informative art classes and a supportive community that's always there for you. I'm really grateful to be a part of that.

Week 14 of 20 Years, 20 Stories features R, Lowell High School '20. R took YAX Printmaking from 2019-2020 and served on our Youth Advisory Board. R grew up in the Ingleside District, graduated from Lowell in June, and is now a freshman at City College of San Francisco where she is studying math. You can see her art Instagram at www.instagram.com/art_.or_whateva/.

"YAX definitely became a safe haven for me. I wasn't expected to act a certain way, there weren't expectations of who I should be as a person. My only job there was to be expressive, and that I was. I enjoyed every second of it. As a child, I always loved art, but when it came time for me to grow up, art didn't grow up with me. And joining Youth Art Exchange, I got that safe haven back. I got my love for art back, and that is something that I won't let go."

Week 16 of 20 Years, 20 Stories features Valentin Nguyen, Lowell ’19. Valentin took the Fashion Design class for four semesters and Printmaking class for two semesters during her time in YAX from 2017-2019. Born and raised in the colorful and diverse city of San Francisco, Valentin has always been surrounded by visual arts and joined YAX to further indulge in this passion. She talks about the takeaways and impacts of taking the classes at YAX, as well as how YAX plays an important role in fostering her own personal journey as an artist. Valentin is now a sophomore pursuing her B.A. in Design Media Arts and B.S. in Cognitive Science at UCLA.

Instagram: @val.in.teen | Website: www.valentinn.com

"YAX provided that space where I could just indulge in my creativity as freely and openly as I wanted to, without hindering my ability to feel confident and good about the things I make, no matter how ambitious or weird they were. I think YAX does an amazing job of being inclusive, and bringing in so many people with different backgrounds, and perspectives, and stories, and voices, that I think the world needs more of. Which I think makes the community there so beautiful, and well-rounded, and very harmonious."

Week 17 of 20 Years, 20 Stories features Vishnu Balunsat, Ruth Asawa School of the Arts ’11. Vishnu took YAX's Printmaking class in his senior year of high school. He recently completed his Master of Architecture at California College of the Arts and currently works at Studio BBA, an architecture firm in San Francisco.

"I think that's what I really liked about YAX, the fact that you really get to be in a community of creators and you can share ideas that way. Even if you're not directly in a course, you still get to see other people's work and get inspired by that. My message for the YAX community is to try things out. You never know where you'll end up in life and I think that YAX does great at giving people the opportunity to try things, to have fun with it, and to really approach things with a creative way of thinking."

Week 18 of 20 Years, 20 Stories features YAX Co-Founder Jennifer Stuart.

Jennifer Stuart is an artist and educator who has been investigating the intersection of different areas of study through her art and work with students for over 30 years. She has been a leader in developing curriculum and professional development opportunities for educators in service of investigating cross-disciplinary questions through art. In her present teaching position at San Francisco Friends School, she helped to create a new kindergarten through 8th grade schedule in support of curriculum that targets such learning. In her own work she incorporates ideas and imagery from science to create mysterious and complex imagery. She is presently a member of the Board of Directors for the non-profit arts organization Root Division. Her most recent solo show, Microstates, was in 2019 at Ampersand Gallery in San Francisco. http://jenniferstuart.space/

"I'm really impressed by the way the organization has grown. It is beyond my wildest dreams how many students are served, how much student voice is really a part of the development of the organization... Youth Art Exchange is very important during these times. This organization was built to empower youth, and at a time when they are facing so many different challenges, working together, envisioning things, making things, making change is of the utmost importance. I really believe in this organization's power and strength to support students through this time and into the future."

Week 19 of 20 Years, 20 Stories features YAX Co-Founder Beth Rubenstein.

With a background in architecture, education and policy, Beth is the Deputy Director of Policy and Communications at SF Public Works, where she focuses on the Racial Equity Initiative, communications and department-wide projects. Previously, she was a legislative aide to three members of the SF Board of Supervisors. Beth was awarded the Koshland Civic Unity Fellowship by the SF Foundation in recognition of being a Bay Area grassroots risk taker. She is the co-founder of two community-based nonprofits, Excelsior Works! - a multi-lingual workforce development center – and Youth Art Exchange – a youth development and civic engagement organization. Beth talks about how YAX is set apart by its multidisciplinary nature and diversity of youth, by bringing together Bay Area youth with the Youth Arts Summit, and in its commitment to youth leadership.

"Our youth are going to be the ones that are leading us into the next generation and decade. We need to support them with the highest quality education that we can. Donating to Youth Art Exchange is an awesome investment. if you care about the future, then you need to care about our youth, and you need to donate to Youth Art Exchange, just like I am."

Week 20 of 20 Years, 20 Stories – our last video in the series!– features former YAX Executive Director Reed Davaz McGowan.

Reed Davaz McGowan was the Executive Director of Youth Art Exchange from 2013-2019 and recently moved back to her hometown, Eugene, Oregon and is now the Executive Director of Eugene Public Library Foundation. With a passion for youth arts, community, and design, Reed found a home at YAX. What does she want you to know most about YAX? "The impact that YAX has on youth and on San Francisco is unmatched, particularly when you think about its dedication to always being free for public high school students. Please join me as an advocate, champion, and donor for YAX!"

Reed has built over 20 years of expertise as a nonprofit leader. As an executive director of organizations in San Francisco and Philadelphia, she has focused on increasing access to and funding for innovative arts and educational programming for underserved and often marginalized youth and communities. She is also a multimedia designer and public transportation enthusiast.