Youth Arts Collective

Youth Arts Collective is a nonprofit, after school art studio and mentorship program where participants work on art, receive art training, and take part in exhibition and commission opportunities. The program provides supplies, studio space, and individual mentoring for high school and college artists, along with a community of peers and professional artists.

• Ages: 14–18 years old
• Schedule: Open 4 hours a day, 6 days a week, year round

Youth Arts Collective operates as a nonprofit, after school art studio and mentorship program for high school and college artists. Its mission is to inspire creativity, kindness, and confidence in youth through artistic expression and mutual respect. The program was founded in 2000 by artists Marcia Perry and Meg Biddle and has individually mentored over 1,000 young artists in the Monterey Bay area since 2000. Over 30% of participants are financially challenged, 100% of YACsters graduate from high school, and 95% go on to university, college, or art college, many on scholarships. Youth Arts Collective provides a safe, creative space for YACsters and staff of all backgrounds, races, religions, disabilities, sexual orientations, and preferences, and mentorship at YAC often extends well into adulthood. The leadership team includes Jesse Juarez, Executive Director; Marissa Serna, Program Director; Logan Mermin, Director of Alumni Relations; and Co-Founder/Program Director Meg Biddle. YAC is described as a creative and social experiment and an incubator for some of the community’s future creatives, whether they enter the arts, education, business, or science. Since 2000, with the support of the community, a growing board, and a team of professional artists, the program has focused on individual mentoring, and it is launching the YAC Alumni Network to reconnect alumni with each other and with current YACsters.

In one testimonial, Co-Founder/Program Director Meg Biddle describes a day that included helping several YACsters with technique and composition, supporting another in designing a series of little books, directing one to artists’ sites for inspiration, photographing art for portfolios, talking with several about current world events, and having private conversations about a broken home life, emotional struggles with self-esteem, and celebrating a college acceptance with scholarship. Executive Director and alum Jesse Juarez states, “I see my peers making art and being themselves at one of the most vital times in their lives.”

Last updated March 15, 2026.