Room 13 is local, everywhere

Room 13 learners from Amohelang Primary School in Botshabelo

Room 13 is an international collective of student-driven creative studios founded in Caol, Scotland. It was formed with an ambition to connect, share ideas, collaborate, and promote young people’s creativity internationally. Many individuals, studios, and communities around the world have drawn inspiration from the original studio in Caol to become part of the Room 13 story. It continues to be told in such diverse places as Nepal, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and America.

Light Bringer Project visited Room 13 in Scotland to see how it worked firsthand. We returned excited to bring this unique youth art movement to the United States and launched the first American Room 13 studio in South Los Angeles. Today, we oversee four Room 13 creative studios in Pasadena public schools. They include John Muir High School, Eliot Arts Magnet, Altadena Arts Magnet, and Longfellow Elementary School. We also deliver Room 13 workshops to 8 public schools of the Ontario Montclair School District.

As part of the international collective, Room 13 supports global citizenship. Our local studios offer the potential for young artists to share friendships and art-making with emerging creative voices worldwide.

Community artists often visit the studio to share their work and demonstrate new techniques. We strongly emphasize diversity and, as such, our Artists-in-Residence and visiting artists share similar backgrounds and experiences as our student participants. For many students Room 13 is not only a place to grow as young artists, but a sanctuary for them in their otherwise stressful lives to strengthen their creative voice in a tranquil, respectful, setting.

Room 13 has shown us that art has the power to change lives.

“As a parent and volunteer in Room 13, I noticed the massive benefits of Room 13’s open studio program. There is one student in particular who is quiet in general, but when he is in the room, he is almost a different person. He is very focused on the project he is working on and I can see his feelings coming out on the paper. When he enters the room at the beginning of recess, he seems a bit stressed. As he works I can see his shoulders relax and is whole demeanor soothed. His art doesn’t always leave with him, but I can see that it has moved him to a better place emotionally to face the rest of his day. I am so thrilled to be a part of something that can give our kids the creative outlets they need to face the many demands of their day.”

— Rebecca Corona, parent and volunteer with Room13|San Rafael

In summer of 2011, Thomas Coston, President of Light Bringer Project, was appointed to the Room 13 International Board of Trustees. Light Bringer Project has become a communications conduit for people who want to start a new Room 13 in the North American hemisphere. Since the launch of our first Room 13 in America, new studios have been cropping up across the country. They include Boone, North Carolina, Dillsboro, Indiana, Delmar, Missouri, Lakewood, Colorado and Boston Massachusetts.

The Room 13 Artist-in-Residence
The Room 13 studio model is based on several pillars of philosophical inquiry, creative expression, reciprocal learning, and community engagement. Each studio is guided by an artist-in-residence who serves as the ‘adult influence’ in the studio and guides participants in their art practice. As an important part of the engendering inquiry, idea-making, and creative expression, the AiR also produces their art within the studio environment as part of its shared art-making experience.