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Editor’s note: The writer is curating a project for The Music Center and previously worked at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
Karina Yánez spent most of her high school years looking forward to spending time in her room creating. Every day after classes, she would sew or paint or make a sculpture.
But when she told her college counselor that she wanted to apply to art school, the answer was: don't waste your time.
Yánez went ahead with her plan anyway, applying to around 14 art schools and getting into almost all of them. Looking back now, she realizes that the question of why kids don't get encouraged to pursue an art education isn't about one individual — it's a more systemic lack of communication, access and information.