By Arden Spivack-Teather

On weekday afternoons in the Outer Sunset District, the rooms in Sunset Media Wave feel unusually calm. Students drift in and out, clicking away at monitors flashing with film or reviewing large paintings for modifications. Smiles are exchanged and creative conversations flow easily. The environment is intentional.

Founded in 2013, Sunset Media Wave is a youth-centered arts program designed to give high school students the space, funding and guidance to create fully fledged creative projects. The program supports many mediums, including film, music, visual art and creative writing, serving students from all across San Francisco.

John Bernson, one of the founders, traces Sunset Media Wave’s origins back to an earlier, underfunded program that dissolved before 2013. Sensing the benefit of a space for youth to come together that existed outside of school or home environments, he and two colleagues decided to start something new.

“I always felt that it would be great to have a program that wasn’t tied to one medium,” Bernson said. “More of a space where we could support anyone to be able to create their own project the way that they wanted to make it.”

With a grant from the City in 2012, the program launched the following year. The first cycle of “wavers,” or students who utilized the space, consisted of only seven high schoolers. They worked out of a single room with only a few computers and no recording equipment, but the resulting creative projects displayed the importance of the space as a resource. Bernson found it evident that the program needed to expand.

Over time, Sunset Media Wave has developed independent recording studios, editing rooms, printmaking spaces and even a large collaborative space where students can gather for food and to exchange feedback.

Rather than operating like a traditional class, Sunset Media Wave is structured around independent projects that students create themselves.

Caley Silk, who helps lead the program, said the goal of this format is to uplift teenagers by recognizing their unique perspective, and help them utilize it to create art that inspires.

“Being a teenager is a really incredible season of becoming,” she said. “It’s a really incredible opportunity to give students a place to tell their own stories, their own lived experiences, and to engage deeply with their values and how they want to show up in the world.”

“There’s no criteria for completing the project,” Bernson said. “The most important thing is that it comes from you, the artist.”

The emphasis of process over product has created a noticeable shift in the way the students approach their own creativity each cycle. Most arrive accustomed to creating art as an assignment, but Sunset Media Wave encourages its “wavers” to think outside the box. Mentors encourage the students to make what they have always wanted to make, no matter the medium or subject. Over time, Bernson and Silk have noted that the environment fosters vulnerability and creative risk-taking, large components of the artistic process.

“People want permission to do what they secretly want to do,” Silk said. “Giving them that informal permission and surrounding them with other artists who are also sharing unfinished work builds courage.”

Students often remain involved for many years, returning to create new projects or assist fellow “wavers”. It has fostered a strong alumni network, with former students returning cycle after cycle. For the program leaders, this is one of the most evident signs of its continued success.

Sunset Media Wave continues to grow and evolve, taking in more students and providing them with new opportunities and resources. The program is currently transitioning from producing zines each cycle to creating a yearly anthology, curated by youth editors.

“It can take a long time to sound like yourself,” Bernson said, quoting Miles Davis. “Just having people remind you that we want you to sound like yourself can be very powerful, especially over time.”

Learn more about Sunset Media Wave at sunsetmediawave.org.