Art museum selects Cy Lakes student for teen council

June 16, 2010 — Cypress Lakes High School junior Layla Bakhtiari was selected from more than 100 applicants around the Houston area to serve on the Contemporary Arts Museum’s Teen Council.

The Teen Council (TC) is a diverse group of Houston teens whose purpose is to provide young people with access to contemporary art and artists. The TC’s function is to create, organize and design teen-specific events and programs with museum staff and to aid in marketing existing programs to teens at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH). The TC consists of 15-20 highly motivated high school students who plan, promote and organize events that introduce the Museum to a new audience.

Members of the Teen Council, due to their motivation and unique point of view, bring an important perspective to the Museum. For their contributions TC members receive:

• a stipend; leadership experience to add to their college and post college resumes; a sense of ownership in the Museum and the community; a voice in the museum’s decisions; and a chance to collaborate with peers who are interested in the art of today.

“This is a huge deal because not only does Layla represent our school and district, but the suburban schools hardly have representation in this organization,” said Cypress Lakes art teacher LeeAnn Jackson. “This opens up a lot of doors for her and for students at Cy Lakes. She is very lucky to be able to ‘rub elbows’ with some of the high society art patrons and artists.”