SARASOTA, Fla. — Being an artist can mean different things to different people. About a dozen teens in Sarasota are learning firsthand that a creative mind can lead to many different careers in the art world.
Each year, the Sarasota Art Museum chooses high school students to join its Teen Arts Council. These kids go through an application process and then spend the summer and some of the school year, working at the museum.
"I was like oh my gosh, this sounds so exciting because I really like art.," Yaru Cao said.
Cao is going into her junior year at Pine View School in Sarasota. She has big dreams for the future.
"I would really like to be a creative director because one thing about me is I really love working as a team and collaborating with other artists," she said. "And I want to create something together whether that is like graphic design or making movies."
That's why she's spending her summer days working at the Sarasota Art Museum, learning a little bit of everything.
"We've done logo designs. We've learned about curation, HR, the different departments here at Sarasota Art Museum and we're right now working on a model of the Sarasota Art Museum."
Brooks Tracey is the lead instructor for the council.
"It's all different types of students with different arts interests," Tracey said. "Not everyone's a visual artist. Some people are interested in the business side of art. Some people are interested in the performing arts. One of the great things about Sarasota Art Museum is that it's a contemporary art museum, so you see a lot of different art forms mixed together."
It's an intense year-long program. The students work 4 days a week all summer and then 2 days a month during the school year, but teens like Yaru are more than willing to fit this into an already busy schedule.
"This summer I'm also teaching an online art class," Cao said. "And I also make music as a little hobby and so I primarily write songs. And I also make videos and one thing is I've been trying to get into animation."
Tracey says this council can be a valuable experience for the students.
"This may be the first job that they have or maybe the first time where they're working in a professional setting," he said. "So to see them come in, having not experienced it before and after a year of doing the job, it's great to see them grow as young professionals and be prepared for their next step in life."
Several students from last year's program went on to get scholarships to study in art-related fields.