Tangible Impacts in Our Communities

By Kristine Leslie

Community Building Associate

CreativePlace podcast episode ”Chicago Teens Design” features four teens (Jaime Flores, Victoria Norrington, Tamia Johnson, and Martin Herrera) from the Territory Design Studio in Chicago. The young designers talked about their work in creating designs in Chicago’s public spaces and what it was like to be with other design professionals from across the Midwest.

Community Director, Andrea Orlando questioned, “What is the goal of your mission?” Immediate answer: Enlightenment. A response that followed was to “share our voices.”

“As teens, we have a voice. We need to be heard. We have power and so much to give to the communities around us”, Victoria chimes in.

They taught a breakout session at the 2019 Midwest Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit in Cincinnati in October. Their workshop was about letting adults into their world and their process and how they experience life as average Chicago teenagers. Their participation made them the youngest ever instructors at a Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit.

These teenagers share how their experience with Territory is different from other studios, being that it’s heavily operated by teens, positively impacts lots of youth, and promotes feelings of empowerment.

“Mighty...I just want to say I feel mighty.” Scroll down to listen to the interview.

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