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TRUCE® Media and Arts

Students who go through the award-winning TRUCE® Media and Arts after-school program are aspiring filmmakers, artists, writers, producers, and much more. Through rich and varied exposure and project-based activities, they receive hands-on experiential learning in a wide range of artistic disciplines, as well as the wraparound academic support they need to pursue their passions and do their work well.

TRUCE—which stands for The Renaissance University for Community Education—offers its 200 high-school students a variety of creative outlets: theater, fashion design, journalism, graphic design, film, and music production. Students in various disciplines will often collaborate on projects. Working in small-groups with our specialized teaching artists allows them to develop their analytical skills and the discipline needed to conceptualize and produce a work of art.

In addition to fostering their creativity, high school teens receive regular tutoring sessions and SAT and college preparatory services to get them ready for the next phase of their life. Notably, each year nearly all of our TRUCE seniors apply to and get accepted to college, thanks in great part to the help of our dedicated staff who work with them to develop their personal statements, a key component of college applications; help them research and select colleges; and organize trips to college campuses.

TRUCE received the prestigious “Coming Up Taller” award in 2005, presented annually at the White House in recognition of exemplary arts and humanities youth programming, as well as many accolades in both film and poetry competitions. Harlem Overheard, its teen literary magazine, is written and published at least once a year by the students and, with a circulation of 25,000, is yet another way in which HCZ is spreading our impact and showing the world the incredible things our children can achieve with the right support and encouragement.