How the Creative Youth Collective Began
Founder Kathryn Ian Gentzke was recently interviewed in Blurb’s Behind the Book Series - Read it here!
With a background in interdisciplinary arts and years of experience mentoring youth across the globe, founder Kathryn Ian Gentzke has created a unique space where young writers and photographers can bring their visions to life.
After graduating with an MFA in Interdisciplinary Studio Practice from California College of the Arts, Kathryn launched The CCC Project, an organization dedicated to empowering youth through creativity and activism. Before attending CCA, she spent years leading youth mentorship programs across the San Francisco Bay Area, NYC, Upstate New York, and Berlin, honing a playful, collaborative approach to teaching media arts and writing.
The three C’s—creativity, curiosity, and community—serve as the foundation of her work. With each young artist and writer, she focuses on bringing their story worlds to life, sharing their work widely with the hope of inspiring more young people to create, and donating royalties from book sales to organizations that make positive change.
Dr. Joshua Levi Ian Gentzke, Co-founder of The CCC Project
"As a scholar, instructor, musician, and writer, I am equally passionate about the creative and the critical imagination—the coordinates that orient my work."
Joshua holds a Ph.D. in Modern Religious Thought, Ethics, and Philosophy from Stanford University; M.A.s in Religious Studies from the University of Amsterdam and Stanford University; and a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from SUNY at Buffalo. Joshua's work has been supported by the Fulbright Scholar Program, the HSP Huygens Scholarship Program, the Freie Universität Berlin, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. He has published, taught, and lectured extensively on the intersections between religion, philosophy, and art.
Alongside his academic activities, Joshua is a musician, songwriter, and an author of both creative fiction and poetry. His and Kathryn’s collaborative work has recently been featured at the Crossroads Film Festival (SFMoMA) and the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art (ICALive!) as well as multiple venues in the United States, Europe, and Russia. Learn more at newwildernesssociety.org.