YouthBeat serves elementary, middle, high school and transitional aged youth, and all of our programs are provided completely free of charge for participants.

Programs for school age youth take place as part of the school day, after school, and during the summer. Our Apprenticeship Programs provide paid training for high school graduates who do not have 4-year college plans.

All participants develop their creative talents and learn cutting-edge media arts skills using professional, industry-standard gear provided for FREE by KDOL-TV, the Oakland Unified School District’s Education Access TV Station.

Courses cover animation, photography, design, and videography and all are taught by accomplished media artists who focus not only on building students’ arts talents and skills but also on building a safe, nurturing learning community that encourages creative risk taking, builds lasting friendships within a culturally diverse group of students, and develops leadership and teamwork skills.

Many of our students also “find a passion.” Mason, for example, explains that he started with Youth Beat just to get his Arts requirement out of the way. He enrolled for a 2nd and 3rd year, he says, because he found something that makes him “feel alive.”