Youth Art Exchange’s (YAX) mission is to spark a shared creative practice between professional artists and public high school students, furthering youth as thinkers, leaders, and artists in San Francisco. We commit to serving public high school students, focusing on low-income students and students of color, through free, high quality arts education and youth leadership development programming. We create opportunities for students to gain arts, leadership, and workforce skills through community art projects.

Youth work with faculty artists in dedicated arts spaces, and exhibit and perform in professional venues, accessing a vibrant San Francisco arts scene. As the arts expand and flourish in the city, many disciplines have declining numbers of artists of color contributing to them. We foster the exploration of fields like architecture and fine arts by youth that often don’t have access.