About ArtLab

ArtLab is our flagship arts internship program for high school-age teens from primarily Title 1 schools living in the Denver metro area. Our in-depth, curriculum-based arts education program meets Colorado state educational standards and pairs youth with professional artists to work on arts and social justice projects. Interns and artists work together to create bodies of work that speak to the social justice issues that matter most in their lives and celebrate their unique cultural and personal identities. ArtLab programs are provided over an extended period of time to allow for the building of long-term relationships between youth, staff, and professional artists.

Art brings youth in the door, while hourly stipends, wrap around resources (including groceries, tutoring, and therapy), warm and welcoming community, leadership opportunities, and adult mentors from shared backgrounds keep youth engaged long-term. PlatteForum sees the impact on youth as they change and grow, often blossoming into their authentic selves and setting goals for the future.

Our 2024-2025 ArtLab Application has closed and will open again in February 2025.

Program Components

1.) Skill Development

Development of skills helpful for academic and professional success including public speaking, project management, teamwork, setting goals, and persistence to success.

2.) Self-Expression

Arts-education workshops that offer dynamic education experiences to support academic performance, self-expression and discovery, civic involvement, and more.

3.) Project Management

Significant project management experience as each intern has the ability to self-direct their creative visions to incorporate their unique artistic voice into a variety of youth-led projects.

4.) Community Building

Development of meaningful relationships with PlatteForum staff, ArtLab peers, and with community members/artists. This internship is a safe space for all identities.

4.) Mental Health Access

Tutoring and mental health support as needed, with social/emotional skills development content incorporated into all programming.

6.) Leadership

ArtLab high school Interns serve as near-peer mentors and lead artists at many of these workshops, gaining valuable leadership experience and the chance to to see themselves as role models – a very new and significant experience for many of them.

ArtLab is composed of a series of intensive creative workshops with professional artists, where they work together, creating bodies of work exploring social issues relevant to their lives and communities.

PlatteForum’s ArtLab also serves approximately 550 low-income K-12 youth through Arts Education and Satellite ArtLab workshops hosted by PlatteForum and involving ArtLab Interns as near-peer mentors.

“PlatteForum is important to me because it’s helped me grow as a person. I’m proud of my grades and my attitude shift. Now I feel like I can go to class and do a good job.”

— Carlos, 2018 ArtLab graduate

PlatteForum’s ArtLab internship program integrates the creative process and arts-based learning with a range of tools, including social/emotional support and academic, personal, leadership, and professional skills development. The arts are utilized as a catalyst for teens to enhance their opportunities for self understanding and encouragement to see themselves as change agents in their communities.

ArtLab Cultural Equity Statement - Created by PlatteForum’s ArtLab interns
Adopted and approved by PlatteForum Board of Directors on August 17, 2019

As we acknowledge cultural equity, we must first acknowledge and honor that we are on the traditional territory of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Ute and Očeti Šakówiŋ (Sioux) tribal nations.

Cultural equity within our community of PlatteForum interns, and staff, resembles a neighborhood. Our neighborhood has their own houses with intersectionalities, but every house has their own stories, their own truth. We as a community value those stories, regardless of age, identity, race, and any of the above.

Our community recognizes the privileges of people who make up our community and surround us, but we also do not use our privilege to mis- represent each other. We understand the world around us is a place of systematic oppression and we strive to act in ways that build cultural equity. We empower each other as a neighborhood would: help with our passions – art related or otherwise. We embrace the cultures of others and advocate for them. Ultimately, we value everyone’s experiences and how they’ve played into and will continue to play into our lives. We understand the process of becoming a person in a world of rejection, we value the process as humans and understand our staff. But most importantly we value our community as a whole.

Requests from ArtLab Interns to take action toward cultural equity:

  1. Create awareness of the structures of privilege within the dominant culture of the art and nonprofit world and how PlatteForum exists within those systems and structures.
  2. Hold anti-oppression and anti-racism workshops with staff, board and ArtLab.
  3. Have the board and staff take the implicit bias test and make space for reflection on an ongoing basis.
  4. Create policies of accountability within the organization to prevent and reduce harm.
  5. Create space for “Conversations with Gen Z” between ArtLab, board and staff in order to get to know one another and our different backgrounds.
  6. Encourage staff and board to develop self-awareness through research and taking the initiative to educate oneself and recognize privilege.
  7. Create an ally toolkit for staff, board and ArtLab.
  8. Honor complexity of social issues and identities.
  9. Have the PlatteForum board report on progress towards cultural equity.

“I don’t know any other place like ArtLab. It is a group that is very aware of what is going on in the world and creates art about those issues.”

— Rogelio, 2018 ArtLab graduate (now attending University of Colorado Denver)

ArtLab = Success

ArtLab interns experience the following outcomes:

  • Improved academic performance and high school graduation rates

  • Preparation and support for post secondary success

  • Opportunities for mentorship, social/emotional learning, and life skills development

  • Inspiration and understanding to create positive social change in their communities

PlatteForum’s ArtLab boasts a 15-year, 97% on-time graduation rate for our interns, significantly higher than Colorado’s rate of 80%. In 2016, PlatteForum began tracking post secondary activity of ArtLab graduates, and through 2024, 60% have continued on to pursue a post secondary education.

Each ArtLab intern spends a total of 1-4 consecutive years in the program. It is this intensive interaction that is the driving force behind ArtLab’s success.

“I was insecure about my learning disability but realized I’m still human and can be more compassionate with myself. ArtLab provided the support I needed to express my feelings through art.”

— Jameelah, 2018 ArtLab graduate (now attending Community College of Denver)

PlatteForum is proud to be a founding member of the Alliance for Creative Youth Development, a community of Colorado youth arts organizations collaborating with and sharing best practices. We helped form the Alliance to advance creative youth development through the arts, share research and program design resources, and to sustain and advocate for the impact on youth by all member organizations.