NeON Arts Workshops
NeON℠ Arts, a free program of the NYC Department of Probation (DOP) in partnership with Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, offers online workshops to young people ages 16–24 from all five boroughs of New York City. A part of the DOP’s Neighborhood Opportunity Networks (NeONs), the program covers topics from music production to fashion, theater, and more. With an emphasis on community and collaboration, participants build peer relationships and learn more about opportunities and careers in the arts and entertainment industries.
Application Deadline: Rolling*
Workshop Duration: May 17–August 6
*Workshop availability is limited. Please note that completing the application does not guarantee a spot in a workshop. Space permitting, participants will receive an email invitation with detailed instructions on how to join their desired workshop(s).
Music and Money
Music Production
Thursdays from 6 PM–7:30 PM and Saturdays from 10:30 AM–12 PM
In this workshop, participants explore the process of music production from start to finish and build a strong foundation of knowledge to increase their financial health. Professional artists, producers, and financial coaches lead all sessions, giving attendees an opportunity to expand their professional network. By the end of the program, participants will have created, released, and sold an original song in addition to developing a personal financial plan.
Design Yourself
Digital Media
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 PM–6 PM
Gain graphic design knowledge and experience in this course focused on Apple ProCreate, an industry-standard software that is capable of producing graphics from backgrounds, flyers, characters, ads and more. Using iPads, students will design PSA ads for NeON and other local organizations that will be on display throughout New York City. Participants will walk away with skills needed to provide design services to local business and develop a career in the arts.
Free Is Me!
Theater
Thursdays from 3 PM–5 PM
This workshop empowers participants to become “free” by channeling their life experiences to create their own work of performative art. In addition to learning acting techniques and terminology, attendees engage in various exercises to awaken their inner actor and write original monologues for themselves and fellow castmates. At the culmination, the monologue performances will be recorded and presented in an online showcase.
Penning My Pieces: How to Piece Together Creative Nonfiction From This Puzzle Called Life
Literary Arts
Tuesdays from 6 PM–8 PM and Saturdays from 10 AM–12 PM
In this 12-week writing workshop, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, and other participants of color explore how to craft literary stories that stem from their experiences. Attendees will learn the art of storytelling, read creative nonfiction written by acclaimed BIPOC authors, recall and reflect on their own lived experiences, and pen their own literary art. At the culmination, participants will perform their art at two public showcases and publish their work in an anthology, enabling them to begin or build upon their own portfolio of published literary art. Participants are also paid an honorarium for both their performances and commissioned works.
Art and Business Workshop
Visual Arts
Tuesdays from 6 PM–8 PM
Create works of art on a canvas while learning about financial literacy. In this art-based program, explore lessons about visual artists while learning the basics of the stock market and the benefits of ownership. Each student learns how to open up a brokerage account and receives their first share of a stock.
Fashion & Community
Fashion Design
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:30 PM–6 PM
This workshop explores the intersection of fashion with community issues and triumphs. Designers will make statement pieces in response to the questions, “What messages are you conveying through what you wear? What do the colors, graphics, and fit say about you?” Participants create and send a message about their most important community values through fashion design.
Dream Camps
Theater
Thursdays from 5 PM–7 PM
Dream Camps gives young dreamers the tools, confidence, opportunity, and encouragement to ignite their future. Using performing arts as a foundation, this workshop includes music, motivation, and special guests to inspire and enhance any dream! Participants leave not only with new performing arts knowledge, but with more art exposure, a like-minded community of artists, and proof that anything is possible with hard work, skill, vision, and positive energy.
Lyrics to Life: The Workshop
Music Production
Mondays and Wednesdays from 5 PM–7 PM
The central focus of Lyrics to Life: The Workshop is to educate, empower, and create. Participants use poetry and hip-hop to convey the issues that affect them and their community while practicing team building and community engagement. In this workshop, young people will be reassured that their voices matter and leave the workshop confident that their stories are worth telling and their songs worth singing.
Where Did You Get Those Kicks?
Fashion Design
Thursdays from 5 PM–7 PM
Participants with a passion for sneakers and fashion learn about the history of sneakers and how shoes are designed and created. Attendees learn color-theory, illustration, and design-thinking skills in order to create their own sneakers. By the conclusion of the workshop, participants will have created their very own sneakers to be shared in a virtual presentation.