Community Visioning | Students

What: Input Session #3
Who: Students
Where: Mercer Island Community and Events Center
When: May 25, 2018

Third in our installment of input sessions was the student group. These students made up a nice cross-section of the arts on Mercer Island: band, orchestra, YTN, drama, and visual art. But, also many of these students take part in sports and other outside organizations like the Boy Scouts.

Moderators from Phinney Bischoff said “This was a really fun group”. It was felt strongly, by these students, that the arts were an escape from their stressful academic lives. According to them, MICA would “legitimize” arts on the island as opposed to keeping it confined to insiders. There was also much discussion about the downtown core as being “blah” (yes, we laughed out loud too!). Being a part of a local space for the arts, rather than always driving to Seattle, was exciting to these young artists – “we’ve been to the same restaurants on MI too many times and there aren’t a lot of other social things to do.”

Here are some quotes from the students:

“GPA is the most stressful thing, but at least the arts don’t decide my life.”
“What do I get out of the arts? There is a thrill to almost failing. To creating something.”
“Our arts community is stagnant. There isn’t much flow or mixing between groups. I feel like I’m in my own little box.”
“It would be good to have a place for younger artists to explore and find their passion early.”

Input sessions to come: business owners, City of Mercer Island. Keep up on the dialogue by regularly visiting our website.

Everybody’s input is important! Please register and take part in our large visioning session on June 11 from 7-9:00pm at the Mercer Island Boys and Girls Club. Visit www.mercerislandarts.org/register or email info@mercerislandarts.org or call 206-715-7671.