Art as Mentorship
Empowering young people to write their own success stories.
Developing youth
personally and professionally.
Who We Are
Art as Mentorship (AM) empowers young people to write their own success stories. The non-profit organization stewards a comprehensive ecosystem that develops young artists personally and professionally through mentorship, mental health support, creative workforce pipelines, and community care.
AM serves through programs like the Rebel Song Academy, and amplifies culture through Celebrate AMERI’KANA, a free neighborhood arts festival involving students from the academy as performers and production interns.
AM taps into the frequencies that heal us by connecting musical experiences to mental health and championing arts participation as a health behavior.
What We Do
We provide our students with consistent support to propel themselves through self-discovery, emotional intelligence and the freedom of creativity. In our programs, we give students the chance to learn and grow from music industry mentors, many of whom are world-class, GRAMMY Award-winning professionals.
RSA synthesizes creativity, leadership development, and art therapy in the context of popular music. We leverage the “cool” factor to get kids invested in a program designed to combat the teenage mental health crisis.
We give students access to resources and equipment they wouldn’t have otherwise to lift their voices and write their own stories.
Who We Work With
A diverse group of industry professional mentors are a part of Art as Mentorship. Grammy recognized artists, community organizers, and industry icons — Martin Kierszenbaum, Tim Anderson, Lili Trifilio of Beach Bunny, Kevin Morby, Ed Arenas of Chicano Batman, Jake Luppen from Hippocampus to name a few.
Students get 1-on-1 mentorship with real, working professionals. Day to day, the Art As Mentorship team directs and encourages kids along with mental health professionals.
Our Programs
Ignition Camp
The Rebel Song Academy’s Ignition Camp is our week-long songwriting bootcamp to find and ignite the creative spark within students! This camp appeals to a wide range of young artists — from seasoned musicians looking to enhance their songwriting skills, to those that have never picked up an instrument but love music. Students band together to create original songs and perform them at our Youth Summer Concert.
Recommended Ages: 11-18
Upcoming Dates: June 16-20
RSA Live!
In 2020, we launched RSA Live!, the supplemental sister program of our Rebel Song Academy. Operating in tandem with RSA, we give students/alumni real world opportunities to perform their music and events including Crossroads Music Fest, Plaza Art Fair, and many more!
We also connect students virtually with nationally-renown mentors to work directly with young artists of all backgrounds, empowering them, through music, to write their own success stories. Our industry-professional mentors work directly with students and answer questions in our virtual chat room.
Recommended Ages: All ages
Upcoming Dates: TBA
Rebel Song Academy
The Rebel Song Academy is at the heart of our programming. Our 12-week curriculum takes an innovative approach to exploring young artists’ full potential through creativity, mentorship opportunities, and fostering their inherent sense of exploration and achievement. Students work directly with industry-professional mentors to write, record, publish, and perform an original song.
Recommended Ages: 14-18
Upcoming Dates: Weekly, Thursday 6p-8p February 20th – May 22nd; September 11 – Dec 18
CELEBRATE AMERI’KANA MUSIC & ARTS FEST
AMERI’KANA is a collaborative project between Art as Mentorship and Making Movies exploring America’s music– both past and present. This event highlights the contributions of Black, Indigenous, and people of color and how interwoven these individuals are in all of America’s stories through this musical festival in Kansas City. AMERI’KANA gives our students resources to learn about the origins of American music as well as performance opportunities at Celebrate AMERI’KANA Music and Arts Festival.
Recommended Ages: 11-18
Upcoming Dates: July 2025 TBA – Celebrate AMERI’KANA Music and Arts Festival
partnered with
Our Partners
Allies & Collaborators
Past Partners
Make your mark through a donation to Art as Mentorship.
Your donation funds a diverse ecosystem of resources, mentorship, opportunities, and support.
Last year, over 200 young musicians were involved in our program. Youth practiced self-expression and collaboration through music, synthesizing art therapy, leadership development, and creativity in the approachable context of popular music.