Perhaps you already know that teenagers are a rewarding and important audience for your museum or organization to develop. Maybe you are already working with them. Maybe you’re just starting. But in case you’re just thinking about working with teens, let us tell you why the Walker Art Center began to focus five years ago on this exciting and at times exasperating audience. Studies have shown that teenagers are among the most underrepresented audiences in museums. While many may attend the occasional enforced school field trip, they often don’t see museums as a place they can call their own. The Walker found itself in a unique position to try to reach teens. There is an immediate connection between artists and teens—both are actively engaged in overturning conventional wisdom and questioning the status quo.

As you will see, the spirit of youth-directedness guides all our work with teenagers. While we want to nurture future audiences for the arts, what we want most is to impact teens’ lives right now, and try to create opportunities and ways for them to interact with and shape the life of the institution. [p. 3]

This toolkit prepared by the Walker Art Center provides resources to help start an art program for youth based from thier experiences creating their own programs.