Room 13 is local, everywhere

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Room 13 is an international network of student-driven creative studios founded in 1994 in Caol, Scotland. The initiative has expanded throughout Europe, India, South Africa, North America, Asia, and other locations, to nearly 100 studios worldwide.

The Room 13 studio model is based upon four pillars of learning: philosophical inquiry, creative expression, reciprocal learning, and business enterprise. Each studio is guided by an artist-in-residence, referred to as AiR, who facilitates the students in their studio practice and achievement of the four stated objectives.

Studios are led by a student management team, responsible for decision-making and implementing a business model. Each Room 13 studio, through its business practice, is expected to be self-sustaining to the best of its ability.

In 2008, Light Bringer Project established the first Room 13 in North America, at James Foshay Learning Center in South Los Angeles. The following year, the organization launched the second Room 13 studio at Eliot Middle School (now Eliot Arts) in Altadena. Soon after, Room 13 Marjorie, a neighborhood model, was begun in the South Bay area and then moved to a charter school in Hollywood, now calling themselves Room13/Citizens of the World, after the school's name. In the fall of 2010, Light Bringer Project opened the fourth Room 13 studio at John Muir High School in Pasadena. Another studio was launched in September of 2013, at Room13/San Rafael, San Rafael Elementary School in Pasadena. In 2015, Room 13 opened at Field Elementary School in Pasadena. This fall of 2016, Room13/Longfellow launches at Longfellow elementary School, Jackson Elementary is another Pasadena School developing a Room 13 space currently. A new model Room 13, called Room13/Opica, is a creative studio serving seniors and individuals with memory loss, and is facilitated by a certified arts therapist in Los Angeles.

“As a parent and volunteer in Room 13, I noticed the massive benefits of Room 13’s open studio program. There is one student in particular who is quiet in general, but when he is in the room, he is almost a different person. He is very focused on the project he is working on and I can see his feelings coming out on the paper. When he enters the room at the beginning of recess, he seems a bit stressed. As he works I can see his shoulders relax and is whole demeanor soothed. His art doesn’t always leave with him, but I can see that it has moved him to a better place emotionally to face the rest of his day. I am so thrilled to be a part of something that can give our kids the creative outlets they need to face the many demands of their day.”

— Rebecca Corona, parent and volunteer with Room13|San Rafael

In summer of 2011, Thomas Coston, President of Light Bringer Project, was appointed to the Room 13 International Board of Trustees. Light Bringer Project has become a communications conduit for people who want to start a new Room 13 in the North American hemisphere. Since the launch of our first Room 13 in America, new studios have been cropping up across the country. They include Boone, North Carolina, Dillsboro, Indiana, Delmar, Missouri, Lakewood, Colorado and Boston Massachusetts.

The Room 13 Artist-in-Residence

The Room 13 Artist-in-Residence
It is the main responsibility of the Room 13 AiR, to support the young artist participants and to uphold the four guiding pillars of Room 13 International model. Respect for individuals and for individuals’ creative expression is an inherent value each creative studio, reinforced by the AiR at all times.

Typically described as the studio’s primary ‘adult influence,’ the AiR oversees all aspects of the Room 13 studio and experience. As an important part of engendering inquiry, idea-making and creative expression, the AiR also produces their own art within the studio environment as part of its shared art making experience.