The Westport Arts Center held an informational meeting on Friday Jan. 30, informing students about the Teen Council the center is putting together. Many Staples students attended, eager to learn more about the committee.

Laura Maged, eight year member of the Westport Arts Center board, came up with the idea to form a teen council to get more teens in the Westport area involved with the Arts Center.

Maged’s main goal is to have a “junior version of what we already do here,” and she would love to have a facebook page and other social media accounts run by the council to spread the word about the teen programs. She also feels it is also important to have at least one big event this year so that there will be momentum for next years committee.

Meetings will be once or twice a month, during which council members will brainstorm and create events for the Arts Center to host for teens. As well as planning and organizing programs, the teens involved will run the events themselves. Functions could include bands or DJs, film festivals, or even devoting an entire art exhibit at the center to young adult work.

The council will be made of 20 members, with students of all different artistic abilities. This does not only include the fine arts like drawing and painting, but also teens with photography and graphic design skills. Maged explained that the council will not be a permanent 20 members, she it as described a “rolling committee.” Applications will always be looked at and accepted, and as kids graduate or are not able to be on the council anymore, members will be added as space becomes available.

Sophomores Channing Smith and Emily Ritter are interested in applying for the council. “I think that it’s a really good way for the arts center to get teens involved in the community,” Ritter says, “I plan on joining because I think it would be fun to work on a community project that I would get to plan and take part in.” Smith describes the council as “a good experience.”

At the informational meeting, Maged described the aim of the teen council: “to have them [the teen council] decide where they want to go to, how would they like to participate, [and] what events would be cool for them.”