Check out the 2011 San Francisco Youth Arts Summit, put together by our friends at Out of Site. It’s this Sunday at SOMArts at 9th and Brannan. There will be visual arts, performance, workshops and more, all by youth for youth. See the website or this Facebook event for more details.

Join Oasis For Girls in celebrating 20 young women who are graduating from the Oasis life skills, arts education, leadership development, and technology training programs. This past fall, WritersCorps teamed up with Oasis For Girls and Intersection for the Arts to teach writing and art to young women in the arts education program.

Friday, December 9th
6 - 7:30 pm
Intersection for the Arts
925 Mission Street @ 5th

Oasis For Girls is also now accepting applications for its Spring 2012 programs, including RISE, Arts Apprenticeship, and the Technology and Leadership Program. The deadline for submission is Friday, February 3, 2012. Please go to the Oasis website to download the application.

WritersCorps is holding our first ever Pen Pal Meetup and Open Mic. Students from our sites have been writing letters to each other this fall to get to know youth who go to different schools. The meetup will feature a variety of activities, including a hip hop writing workshop, a holiday card making workshop, and the chance to read their work during our open mic hour. There will be prizes and refreshments. And you don’t even need a pen pal to attend.

When: December 6, 2011, 3:30-5:30 p.m.

Where: San Francisco Public Library, 100 Larkin Street (at Grove), Children’s Creative Center, 2nd Floor

Cost: Free

Public Transit: Civic Center BART and Muni Metro J, K, L, M, and N lines

Local illusionist Christian Cagigal, photo by Julie Michelle.

Teens are in for an exciting evening at the Contemporary Jewish Museum from 6 to 8 p.m. on November 22! In conjunction with their Houdini: Art and Magic exhibit, they are putting on this special event especially for young people. Youth can step into the gallery to witness original artifacts from Houdini’s death-defying stunts and the legacy he inspired. Then they’ll experience the dark fables and close-up magic of Obscura, an interactive show full of mystery and illusion brought to you by local illusionist Christian Cagigal. Or you can chill in the lounge while watching acrobats and enjoying popcorn and cotton candy. For more information, go here.

Young people, take note! Teenquake 2011 is right around the corner and this year they are co-hosting a writing competition with Figment.com for 13 to 18 year olds in the Bay Area. Teenquake will be running contests in four different categories — fiction, fantasy, poetry, and mystery. Entrants can submit writing for one, two, three, or all of the categories. There will be twenty finalists in total (5 for each category), and first, second, and third place winners will be chosen for each category by our fabulous author guest judges, and those authors will present the winners with awards and prizes at the Teenquake Awards Ceremony on October 14 in San Francisco.

This contest is moving fast – you only have until 7pm EST on September 18^th to enter, so don’t delay! More details can be found here.