Arts participation builds transferable skills like creativity, collaboration, communication, and problem solving, and these are the skills employers increasingly value and seek in the age of AI. This town hall brought together voices from the field to share how Creative Youth Development programs give young people durable, future ready skills that hold up alongside technological change.

Special Guest Speaker

• Gregory Hambric is Senior Director, Talent Acquisition at Warner Music Group and Board Co-Chair of JobsFirst NYC. Drawing on years of hiring and training experience across multiple industries, Mr. Hambric shared insights on how skills development, recruitment, and youth employment are changing.

Young Adult Program Leaders

• Maya Hardie, Assistant Director of Phase 2 Productions at Spy Hop, has grown from youth artist to mentor and film workforce trainer. She shared what she and her program have discovered about the connection between artistic skills and preparing for employment.

• Clay Conley is Program Advisor and Weekend Events Facilitator at Neutral Zone and a Ph.D. candidate in ethnomusicology. Clay explained how artistic skills and experiences add value in very different professional settings.

• Kai “The Emcee” is a musician and BRL Academy member at Beats, Rhymes, and Life. Kai talked about how BRL Academy prepares young artists to become the next generation of social service professionals, with holistic wellbeing at the center of its approach.

Town Hall Host and Moderator

• Michael O’Bryan is Founder and CEO of humanature, a human centered design firm working at the intersection of youth development, employment, and systems to foster wellbeing. Along with guiding the Town Hall conversations, he shared the latest in adolescent development research and the implications for employment success.