The School of Other Fields
After seven years of running Problem Children, our summer program for ambitious and creative teenagers, we are stepping into a new era. What began as a single-season experiment has become something bigger: an ongoing invitation to young creatives, writers, and thinkers who are searching for a serious place to expand their abilities, challenge themselves, and build lasting connections.
Today, we’re excited to introduce The School of Other Fields—a year-round program for young Bay Area creatives. Built on the same principles and values that made Problem Children vital, this program has been reimagined to serve more students in deeper ways and across extended periods of time. This is not an expansion but an evolution: we are keeping our doors open longer, widening our scope of inquiry beyond visual arts into the humanities more broadly, and creating a constellation of experiences that help students to push their thinking and creative practices further.
At its heart, The School of Other Fields is a home for ambitious, rigorous, expansive learning. A space for mentorship, shared inquiry, and collaborative work across generations. A place for young creative minds who take their work—and questions—seriously, seeking to sharpen their vision and deepen their understanding.
We hope you’ll enjoy exploring the new website, but a few key takeaways are worth highlighting:
- OTHER FIELDS is a space for young artists, writers, and thinkers (ages 14–19). Not just visual artists—this new program is for anyone drawn to creative exploration and the humanities more broadly (language arts, philosophy, history, music, etc…).
- Three distinct seasons, each offering new ways of seeing, thinking, and making. These are standalone experiences that connect into something deeper.
- Small cohorts of 7 students max per season, ensuring close mentorship, hands-on work, and a dedicated creative space at Problem Library.
- Applications are open now for the Spring season, which starts in March. Applications for Summer will open in mid-March.
If you know young creatives who would thrive in this space—or families seeking in-person programs for their ambitious teens—we would love your help getting the word out. Reaching the right people is key, and any way you can amplify this would mean a lot.
Learn more and apply here:
www.otherfields.school
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This shift is the result of deep reflection on what we’ve learned over the past seven years, our view of what is needed in education, and how we want to continue the important work of making space for intergenerational collaboration and exchange. Through this process, a vision took shape—to evolve Problem Children into a year-round program for teens and young adults.
This means keeping our doors open and creating a space where young creative minds are supported and engaged. It means offering in-person, care-full, and ambitious learning through intergenerational collaboration, conversation, and co-creation. And, importantly, expanding our focus to include the fields of study vital to understanding and developing our humanity—the same fields that are increasingly absent from cultural conversations and classrooms.
Taking this evolutionary leap meant rethinking the program from the ground up—applying our knowledge and expertise, honoring the past, and developing a stronger long-term vision. It required reshaping the curriculum, reconsidering how we engage volunteers and unpaid staff, and crafting a calendar that remains flexible and responsive to students and families.
But as with most evolutions, it also meant letting go of things we hold dear. Most notably, we recognized it was time to sunset the much-beloved Problem Children name in favor of something that offered a more expansive, invigorating, and hopeful vision. A name that would invite curiosity and honor individual perspectives.
With input from program alumni, mentors, and families, we’ve crafted a new vision, approach, and structure for working with young creative minds. The result: The School of Other Fields. We’re happy to share it with you.
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The application window for Spring closes next week. If you know ambitious teens or people who work with them, we would love your help in reaching the right students.
This evolution has been a long time in the making, and in the coming weeks, we’ll share more about our reasoning, findings, and vision. Until then, if you’d like to know more or support this work in any way, please reach out to Daniel: daniel@problemlibrary.org.
To all the problem children, mentors, visitors, donors, and advocates—thank you for making this possible. These past seven years have been an incredible time of learning, collaboration, and conviviality. We are here because of your participation and care. It is an honor to work alongside you.
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Learn more on the new website: otherfields.school |
