A Reimagined Fuego Youth Leadership Program For Summer 2020

When we learned we’d be able to host on-site youth programs this summer, we immediately began brainstorming ways to continue our long-running Fuego Youth Leadership Program. Fuego is a youth leadership opportunity for high school students excited about deepening their technical skills, learning leadership skills, and supporting The Crucible’s youth classes. Fuego leaders progress from immersive creative classwork to the exploration of possible career opportunities.

Last summer, for the first time in Fuego’s ten-year history, we integrated our first and second year students for an expanded, four week program. With our new health and safety guidelines in mind, we’ve decided to streamline Fuego 2020 so that our first-year students from last summer can complete their program, returning to a two-week format without the addition of first-year participants.

Unlike in summers past, this year Fuego Leaders will not be assisting youth campers during class time, but instead will help prep for classes and dedicate more time to personal projects. Our Fuego Coordinator, Nico Chen, hopes this more intimate version of the Fuego program will afford his students lots of time to reflect current events in their work.

“Sometimes, when we’re going through moments of crisis we don’t have the opportunity to distill what we learn,” said Nico. “Through our discussions, I hope we can be vulnerable while also being active with our hands…and integrate something personally meaningful into what we produce.”

Our returning Fuego Leaders during a field trip to Cass’ recycling center last summer. 

While the structure of the Fuego Youth Leadership Program will look fairly different this year, we’re excited to continue providing Bay Area youth with a pathway to careers as artists and leaders. We’ll be sharing updates on the program throughout the summer.

Thank you to our sponsors for making our 2020 Fuego Youth Leadership Program possible: