Today we’d like to introduce you to Kate-Yeonjae Jeong and Matthew Jeong.
Hi Kate-Yeonjae and Matthew, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
When I was in middle school, I organized an arts & crafts event with a local non-profit, Noah’s House, a living center for seniors with disabilities. A group of middle school students and I created collage art with the seniors, made from scraps of magazine cut-outs and art materials. It was exciting to see the creativity unleash and simply indulge in conversations. The event truly touched me in a way I had never expected; the heartwarming conversations and liveliness of creating art truly brought me joy.
To continue such events with others within my local community, I founded Light Up Network together with my brother, Matthew Jeong. We expanded the program to include not only arts and crafts events, but also art performances with music, singing, and dance. The events are hosted in partnerships with nursing homes, hospices, and hospitals.
Our hopes are to not only share our love for art, but to prevent elderly isolation and foster intergenerational connections. Nothing makes us happier than to multiply the joy, and we’re doing exactly that with Light Up Network.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The pandemic has certainly impeded Light Up Network’s events, which were originally all in-person. We would go over to various senior centers to do live events, but due to quarantine, we had to halt our programs for a while.
However, with the new challenge, we were able to work our way around to find a new method of sharing the joy of art with the seniors: virtual events!
With the virtual events, we were able to share our performances even further, as they’re no longer was a limitation of location. We have been able to send recorded videos nationwide, including states as far as Hawaii.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Light Up Network hosts “Care Through Art” events, in which seniors and youth enjoy various art activities together. One of the events is Arts & Crafts, which spans over activities such as watercolor painting, collage making, card making, and more.
We also host live performance events, where our talented youth members perform various forms of art, such as dance, vocal music, instrumental music, and more. Since the COVID–19 pandemic, we have moved our performance events to a hybrid format, where we also send pre-recorded videos for seniors all over the United States to enjoy!
In addition, we are in the process of launching our Birthday Bash program. Birthday Bash is a program created to celebrate the seniors’ big day with a personalized video filled with music, dance, and celebratory messages.
We are most proud of putting smiles on people’s faces through Light Up Network. I love that we are a group of young students coming together to share our passion for art with seniors, all whilst forming genuine connections.
Anyone can participate in our programs- whether they be interested seniors who wish to enjoy our events, or artistically inclined youth who wish to participate, we are open to sharing our joy with you! Those interested can simply visit lightupnetwork.com to learn more about how to get further involved.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
We definitely are lucky to say that we attend an art high school, where we are surrounded by artistically inclined, talented students. Many of them are enthusiastic to share their passion with the seniors, which has allowed Light Up Network to gain a lot of traction within our school community.
Contact Info:
- Email: thelightupnetwork@gmail.com
- Website: lightupnetwork.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightupnetwork/
