This is one of ITAC Collaborative’s monthly Think Tank sessions, where Frédérick Moreau, creator of *Le plaisir de la culture en français* in Laval, Québec, Canada, which hosts over 400 students from more than 20 different cultures, invited teaching artists to explore his program and *Borders to Bridges* in the United States (presented by Lynn Ditchfield). Both programs support young people as they engage with new cultures through artistic expression.

The Think Tank aimed to engage those interested in working with other cultures by discussing how teaching artists can work with immigrant teenagers. These teenagers, who often need to adapt to new cultures, have rich experiences that can educate and inform how Teaching Artists support them. Art can provide these young people with opportunities to forge their future, discover themselves, laugh, and develop their social and language skills. A teaching artist can guide their journey so that learning a new culture does not divide them or erase their existing identity but becomes a positive experience.

Additionally, the Think Tank encouraged participants to empathize with newcomers to better appreciate and support their unique perspectives. After Frédérick Moreau and Lynn Ditchfield presented their projects, they led a conversation exploring how adolescents continue to express themselves through the arts. Discussions included: What is going on in their minds? In which language do they imagine the scenarios they create? What difficulties do they encounter? How can we learn a new language and culture through the arts? How can a teenager become familiar with a host culture without losing their own? What goes through the mind of a teenager learning new cultural references?