Lymes Creative Arts is offering mini-grants of up to $1,000 plus materials to instructors providing hands-on arts opportunities for Lyme and Old Lyme middle & high school youth this summer. A collaboration of the Lymes’ Youth Service Bureau (LYSB), and the Sustainable Committees of the Towns of Lyme and Old Lyme, “Lymes Creative Arts” is now in its fourth year of providing arts programming to teens as a way to enrich their lives and find fulfillment in artistic expression. The program began in the summer of 2020 when the Lyme-Old Lyme Schools and other organizations including LYSB were concerned about the isolation and stress teens were facing during the pandemic. Lymes Creative Arts was created “by students for students” and offers affordable and accessible creative arts programming for middle school and high school residents of the two towns. The initiative is designed to reduce barriers to participation such as access to program options, time availability, and financial hardship. Proposals for arts programming can include areas such as hands-on visual arts, craft-making, literary arts, and performing arts. Applications are due on February 16, 2024 for programming to occur between June 20 and August 20, 2024.