- [Announcer] Funding for this program has been provided by... (upbeat music) (pen scribbling) - Hi, I'm Olivia and this is Young Creator Studio.

All across our region, young creators are using video, not only for social media platforms, but to tell stories that deserve to be seen and heard.

Whether they are self-taught, learning in classrooms or art programs, we're giving them the space to share their creative and informative films.

So kick back and grab a snack.

This is the Young Creators Studio.

(upbeat music) - My art is the way that I help my mental health.

It's been really hard to cope with anxiety.

(upbeat music) - I was kicked out of my parents' house due to me being trans.

(upbeat music) (pen scribbling) - Welcome to Young Creators Studio.

Today we're sharing students films about exploring and embracing personal identity, and sometimes struggling with acceptance.

For most of us, middle school and high school is a time where we learn more about who we are and how to express ourselves.

But when COVID-19 left us stuck at home, finding a creative outlet wasn't always easy.

Up first is a film featuring quia artists who managed to do some pretty creative things during the weirdest school year ever.

(pen scribbling) - Don't go outside Monday.

Monday is the worst.

Smells like- - All right.

So we're gonna go outside in black.

- On Monday.

- Yeah.

(beeping) (gentle music) - [Shamaur] My name is Shamaur William.

- [Interviewer] So tell me about the project you are working on today?

- Okay, so I named it as "We The Blueprint," but that's only because of the origin of African-American history and stuff like that.

But I want this project to kind of be based on the creativity of black beauty, or ally and quia people in general, especially the youth.

I feel like during the pandemic especially we have had like a suffocation on artistic ability and for a lot of people like me, my art is the way that I helped my mental health.

So since I've been closed in and I haven't had access to things like that, it's been really hard to cope with anxiety or depression and stuff like that.

So I wanted this project to kind of be like, even though we have a pandemic and we have stuff like the revolution and stuff like that happening, we can still be creative and work together and really create something that could be beautiful regardless of the circumstance.

(gentle upbeat music) - [Jada] My name is Jada Orr.

- So, tell me how this pandemic affected you making art?

- Well, it made it a lot harder specifically for photography purposes and being able to interact with people, 'cause a lot of people are immunocompromised and like you don't get a lot of the natural flow of things especially like if you're a photographer, you have to stand six feet apart and you have to do things just a certain way now.

Like everything is completely different and flip and like, it also just like being in quarantine, doesn't exactly help your artistic flow.

And I feel like I've reached a lot of art blocks specifically, and like inspiration has been a little bit more sparse than previous.

So yeah, that's how it affected me.

- My art is like usually with modeling or with singing, and since this has been keeping me from outside, I haven't been able to interact with photographers.

So I haven't really been able to interact with models and with music, I need like a studio.

So I haven't really been able to go out and really take the moment to sit down and spend those hours, you know, working hard on the sound or working hard on the spoken word.

So it's been kind of keeping me from my outside sources of expression and really it's kind of just, is it affected my way of like looking at art.

Because I'm always thinking, "I have to outsource, I have to find things outside to do it."

And it's really testing my limits on the things that I can create, inside.

Like, it's really increased my range I guess.

(gentle music) - [Christopher] Christopher Seng.

(engine roaring) - [Interviewer] So tell me how this pandemic affected you making art?

- Mentally, I would say mentally.

I was in an environment that wasn't as creative as I used to be, yeah.

Right now I just been trying to indulge myself in a bunch of creative outlets, like redecorating my room in a sense, but like also trying to put myself in other situations and other productive groups.

(gentle music) - Hopefully after quarantine everything's gonna go back to relatively normal at least.

And just kind of letting people know it's okay to take a step back and like take care of your mental health too.

'Cause being an artist and like having the expectation of constantly working and especially with all the stuff that's going on right now in this climate, like it's hard to step back and just take a breath for yourself.

- I'm more aware of the people surrounded by me I would say.

The people that were just fillers and the people that would be there for me for the rest of my life I would say, I think that's what I've learned going into quarantine.

(gentle music) - It really opened my eyes like so much that's going on in the world.

It let me know that...

It made me think about the fact that connecting with human beings is whether that's just by walking by them, or shaking their hand or hugging or talking in the same room.

It made me really realize the fact that those little moments meant so much more to me than I could ever fathom.

And it's kind of crazy at the fact that something as simple as, you know, being in the room with someone and eating a sandwich even though you guys don't know each other is it all, that's so important and it's been shown because I can't do it anymore.

So it's kind of developed my ability to really appreciate every single moment I have with people that are around me.

(upbeat music) (pen scribbling) (rain dropping) (birds chirping) (gentle music) (jeans stretching) (machine roaring) (somber music) (low whispers) (somber music) (low whispers) (dramatic music) (lady sobbing) (low whispers) (low whispers) (bird chirping) (dramatic music) (low whispers) (water showering) (low whispers) (fun rotating) (somber music) - I'm sorry.

You know I love you, right?

That much.

(somber music) - When January dawn, when I closed my eyes, my soul opened up its pedals to the sky, like a sacrifice and a golden altar, and inside the white meat of all my lives there stood sinus, to damp and breakable.

He pointed the heart in my chest, told me tenderly, there lies the golden bird.

So I've been searching for a way to free it ever since.

Gifting lemon rinds and Ivy leaves to Dionysus for growth, praying to Artimus when the moon hangs fat and heavy as a summer calf about transformation of bodies.

Every day I rifle back through my bones to see how far I've become, what I've become.

The whispery river light bleed of me from shape to shape, from skin to skin.

Hymns and me singing I am, I am, to the fountains and they're wishing Queens at Twilight.

I am chicory seed, I am no feathered hope.

I am refrains about dreaming, I am legends that way in the blood.

I am mason jars full of secrets that shine at signals to you with their bioluminescent bodies.

Notice me, name me, shelter me, the sunlight of your bones.

(gentle music) - [Announcer] LGBTQ+ Youth Houselessness is a huge problem in America, including Philadelphia.

According to a study conducted by Chafing Hall at the University of Chicago, LGBTQ+ youth are at a 120% higher risk for homelessness.

And according to True Colors United, 40% of youth experiencing houselessness are LGBTQ+, but they only make up an estimated 7% of youth in the US.

It is important to listen to youth experiencing homelessness and professionals who work with them to fully understand the issue at hand.

- Currently I am living at the Covenant House.

So I am homeless, but living in a shelter.

So at least I have a roof over my head and food and safety.

- Our work is focused on building relationships with young people.

When they come into shelter, they don't know the staff.

They might not be comfortable in this environment, so our goal is to build a relationship to establish trust.

And that trust and that relationship form the foundation for our work together.

- So when I found the Attic Youth Center, it gave me this kind of... Kind of taught me to be strong and to be happy with who I was, even if I wasn't sure back then.

So I'm glad that this place at the Attic Youth Center is still that place today.

- We find ourselves in a really interesting moment right now of making space, because when we talk about figuratively making space, right?

Unapologetically turning our volume up, showing up and not saying sorry for who we are.

I recognize in myself that there are literal spaces that we have to make.

- Collaborating, partnering, supporting, donating, to go for organizations that are already doing the work, that are already connected to this community a few, I think it's the best way to move things forward.

There's a lot of teens who are wanting to get away, or they are kicked out of the house, or just need that support, or know where to go in case of an emergency.

- The violence that you experienced maybe in your home environment or your community is like greater than the possibility of leaving that and kind of risking the unknown and finding your people.

- I Think a lot of us, especially myself, if I had my mother to talk to about what I was going through, I would have made some very, very different decisions at my transition.

I would've made some very, very different decisions on how to survive while transitioning.

If I had my mother's support then.

- I'm in this situation because I was kicked out of my parents house due to me being trans and being 18, and my stepfather and I weren't very compatible with each other.

We weren't getting along very well and he was very homophobic and transphobic, so I had to leave.

- We need to do work internally and externally to cultivate safer spaces and braver spaces for young people.

And that starts with just believing them and loving them when they tell us who they are.

- It must involve changing the hearts and minds of people especially parents or guardians who care for LGBTQ+ youth.

- If they are to care for these people, is that.

Is to do that with love and respect.

And that's something that we can do.

- In one sense it's the same community passing around the same $20 bill, and I think we really need to shift the conversation so that we can...

So that other resources coming from other places are able to provide that kind of the security.

- There is only one shelter so far that services trans individuals and some trans youth who are experiencing homelessness.

And as much as that's a beautiful thing and a milestone within our community, it's not enough.

We need more funding for housing for our young people.

- So maybe expanding those services that already exist and creating a shelter system that is welcoming and affirming of all gender identities.

- There's no reason why houselessness should be a thing on top of the challenges of just like being alive in quia or trans body in this country in this time.

- [Announcer] Although this is a big issue, there are little ways everyone can help.

Such as donating to shelters like The Covenant House, The Attic and Morris Home, or to go fund me, set up by individuals.

If we all work together to put in effort, we can help eradicate the problem of LGBTQ+ Youth Houselessness in our communities.

This has been Maizy Mennuti a student intern at WHYY.

Thank you for watching.

(papers rustling) (papers rustling) (pen scribbling) (gentle music) (papers rustling) (keys clicking) (papers rustling) (metal clinking) (techno music) (papers rustling) (water gushing) (gentle music) (papers rustling) (coins clinking) (instrumental music) (techno music) (notes rustling) (ruffles rustling) (gentle music) (papers rustling) (pen scribbling) (upbeat music) - I wanna thank all you young creators for sharing your stories with us today, and give a special shout out to all the teachers and instructors who inspire these young storytellers.

Thanks for watching Young Creative Studio.

To watch past episodes, head to our website.

I'm Olivia, and I'll see you next time.

(upbeat music)