Leveraging Change: Increasing Access to Arts Education in Rural Areas

In 2015, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) received funding in the first round of collective impact grants from the National Endowment for the Arts to launch the pilot initiative, Leveraging Change: Improving Access to Arts Education in Rural Areas. The authors conducted research which included a literature review and interviews with arts education leaders in rural areas. Using the research compiled through this process, a pilot convening was held in western Massachusetts' Berkshire County to activate ideas, stimulate the exchange of information, and generate cross-sector collaboration focused on strengthening support for arts education in the region. This working paper is a summary of the research results and insights gleaned from this pilot initiative

A Flash of Understanding: Utilizing Flash-Length Creative Writing in the Empowerment and Identity Development of Young Women

This project’s purpose was to evaluate the potential strengths and areas for improvement of the Flash of Understanding curriculum for young women to combat the mental health crisis faced by this population. The curriculum, utilizing flash-length creative writing as its main tool, seeks to strengthen knowledge of creative writing craft, deepen understanding of social justice concepts, and combat isolation in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Content was created utilizing Creative Youth Development (CYD) as a framework, which as a discipline places equal importance on creative skill development and the personal growth of youth (Montgomery, 2017). The curriculum outline was presented to four reviewers via a structured interview process who have experience in creative writing education, youth development, or community engagement. All reviewers reacted positively to the curriculum and provided suggestions for implementation. Significant findings from this review process include: a favorable response to the balance between creative writing and social justice, the importance of emphasizing boundaries among program participants, and the suggestion of including outside reading to address any gaps in knowledge among participants

Powerful Arts Education Practice

This document describes 10 dimensions of powerful arts education practice — building blocks for organizations that engage young people in this practice. It also shares examples of the kinds of things you might see and feel at an organization — indicators — that could let you know these dimensions are at play.A working group of arts education leaders illuminated these dimensions and indicators through a collaborative process co-facilitated by Sarah Crowell, an expert practioner, and Lauren Stevenson, a researcher. Stevenson synthesized the group's insights and elaborated emerging dimensions and indicators through interviews with additional arts education leaders and iterative feedback from the working group. Working group members and interviewees included youth participants, youth mentors, young alumni, teaching artists, program managers, and artistic and executive directors at organizations known for powerful arts education practice. The following dimensions and indicators reflect their collective wisdom.

From Angst to Assurance: Why Young Women Need Creative Community

78 pagesThis thesis examines the healing and motivating influence of creative community through the lens of creative young women. My research elucidates mechanisms of creativity deterrence facing young women today and offers an intervention. Through thorough literature review, I have identified four intervention elements evidenced to aid confidence and creative development: (1) therapeutic creative practice; (2) mutual recovery; (3) peer support and mentorship; (4) all-woman spaces. Combining these factors (and existing research on Creative Youth Development [CYD]), I propose a novel program for the encouragement of young women’s creative writing and connection with one another. Additionally, I employ personal narrative throughout my inquiry to reflect a common young woman’s creative arc indicated by my research. My findings illuminate the role of creative community in girls’ collective empowerment, as well as both artistic and personal fulfillment

Arts Infusion Initiative, 2010-15: Evaluation Report

For youth involved in the criminal justice system, a better future depends on improving their social and emotional learning skills -- skills like conflict resolution, career readiness and preparation for the future. An assessment by the Urban Institute shows how the Arts Infusion Initiative helped achieve just that for young people detained in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC), and for high-risk youth in the Lawndale, Little Village, Back of the Yards and South Shore communities. From 2010 to 2015, this catalytic approach to restoring the peace for Chicago's youth supported 14 nonprofits providing teens with rigorous arts instruction, infused with social and emotional learning goals. Funded by The Chicago Community Trust, the $2.5 million Initiative built collaborations with the Chicago Police Department, Chicago Public Schools, and Northwestern and Loyola Universities. The Urban Institute's mixed-method evaluation (2.9MB), commissioned by the National Guild for Community Arts Education with funding from the Trust, concluded that "the fields of education, juvenile justice and family and youth services can benefit tremendously from the emergent approaches embodied in the Arts Infusion Initiative." Among the successes their research revealed:Participants showed substantial improvements in social and emotional learning skills, as measured by conflict resolution, future orientation, critical response and career readiness. Improvements ranged from 27% in conflict resolution and career readiness, to 29% for critical response and 36% for future orientation.The initiative helped foster collaboration between program directors, public schools, community policing and the detention center. Examples include the Trust and the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy program working together to open a high-tech digital music lab at JTDC. Chicago Public Schools' plan for a new Digital Arts Career Academy for at-risk and court-involved high school youth is a direct result of the positive effects Arts Infusion had on youth, and of the relationship forged between CPS and the Trust.The program exposed at-risk youth to new skills and technologies that opened their minds to a positive future. Arts Infusion grants enabled many participating programs to purchase -- often for the first time -- modern, professional-grade equipment to which many youth had never been exposed. Better Boys Foundation used its funding to purchase enough modern film lab equipment to serve a full 17-student class -- previous classes had only one camera to share among all students

HOOK Student Guitars

University of Michiganhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136811/1/Thesis_2017_Hammond_William.pd

Cultivating Abolitionist Praxis through Healing-Centered Engagement in Social Justice Youth Arts Programs

This is a critical-phenomenological interview-based study in which young people who participated in Social Justice Youth Arts (SJYA) programs during their teenage years engaged in a series of semi-structured interviews focused on recollecting their lived experiences in those programs and the years since. These interviews investigate the ways in which the principles of Healing-Centered Engagement (Ginwright, 2018) were present within these young people’s experiences of those programs, as well as the extent to which those experiences may have encouraged or cultivated a lived praxis of the principles of the contemporary abolitionist movement (Kaba, 2021; Kaepernick, 2021). This study describes how these young people’s engagement with SJYA programming encouraged their process of identity formation as artists and activists, and how the durability and evolution of those self-identifications manifested in their broader social and behavioral context over time. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu)

Youth as Creative Development Resource: How does Social Environment Unlock Youth’s Creativity and Creativepreneurial Intention?

Youth can be invaluable creativepreneurs who bring about positive community changes. Their young age, dynamics and high enthusiasm can potentially boost their capacity to encourage community development. Moreover, recent digital technology and globalization provide fertile environment for youth to unleash their creative ideas and choose creativepreneurs as promising career. The study aims to examine social aspects which may facilitate youth potential creativity and develop entrepreneurial passion. The study is extracted from a community service program aimed at increasing competencies of Karang Taruna Karang Rejo Sawah, Surabaya. The data are collected through direct observation during the workshop session. The study finds that social environment can stimulate youth’s creativity through several ways. The first way is through youth social organization from which young people learn how to be creative, build social interaction, engage in non-formal education. The second way is through social inspiration from which youth can obtain or get motivation to start their own business by acknowledging successful and inspiring creativepreneurs’ sagas, creative products and inspiring messages or experiences. Successful creativepreneurs’ painful and rewarding experiences may strengthen youth’s creativepreneurship mentality. The third way is through partnership from which young people relate themselves with outside world and explore their development opportunities

Afterschool Matters Spring 2019

Welcome from the Managing Editor of Afterschool Matters, Spring 2019 By Georgia Hall About eight years ago, I took my then six-year-old daughter to a local children’s theater performance of The Wizard of Oz. During intermission, she made it clear to me that, next time, she wanted to be on stage. So began an incredible journey into the dramatic arts that was topped off last January with her final youth theater performance. Process Over Product: How Creative Youth Development Can Lead to Peace Adam Jacobs “The person who fell off the person who fell off.” This was the response of four-year-old Aaron to the question, “What do you want to do a play about?” in the Kids Creative Summer Camp. Aaron meant to say “the person who fell off” only once. In most settings, such an accidental double phrasing would be corrected and forgotten. However, in Kids Creative, the rule is “All ideas are good.” Other campers built on Aaron’s slip-up to create a play called “The Journey to Find The Person Who Fell Off The Person Who Fell Off.” This group of 20 children, ages 4 to 12, who came from various New York City schools, engaged in a brainstorming session in which they shared ideas and asked questions. Everyone in the group, including the teaching artists, added their own ideas using the phrase, “Yes, and….” A storyline took shape: The vice president of Chocolateville was standing on the shoulders of the president of Chocolateville at their inauguration when they both slipped into the Chocolate River. Now a group of heroes has to make a treacherous journey to find them. Each child created his or her character, and the group found ways to weave the story together. Thanks to the Kids Creative processoriented environment, one idea from a four-year-old child developed into a five-part musical play, which was performed for friends and family at the close of the camp session. Beyond the Webinar: Dynamic Online STEM Professional Development By Alexandria Brasili and Sue Allen A group of six afterschool educators come together for a monthly professional development course in which they are learning to facilitate STEM programs effectively. Today’s meeting focuses on how to model science practices. To begin the meeting, the facilitator sets up an icebreaker to allow the other five educators to get to know one another better. The facilitator asks, “What upcoming STEM program are you most excited about?” Sofia, an afterschool educator at a 4-H program, talks about the summer coding club that she is starting; the other participants join in. Supporting Latinx Youth Participation in Out-of-School Time Programs By Nancy Erbstein and James O. Fabionar Scholars in many fields have documented that the sharp population increase among Latinx people in the U.S. has been accompanied by myriad social challenges (Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-Orozco, 2009). Both established populations and new arrivals struggle to obtain quality education, adequate healthcare, and employment that pays a living wage; they also deal with various forms of discrimination. Analyses repeatedly indicate that these and other issues often shape the daily lives and developmental trajectories of Latinx youth. These social issues also undermine Latinx participation in out-of-school time (OST) programs, which hold potential to promote youth well-being (Guzman-Rocha, McLeod, & Bohnert, 2017). Increasingly, leaders of youth-serving organizations voice concern about low Latinx participation (Borden et al., 2006), often recognizing that poor participation reflects a need to develop new capacities and inclusive practices (Perkins et al., 2007). The Unique Challenges of Afterschool Research Lizzie Murchison, Katie Brohawn, Cheri Fancsali, Andrea D. Beesley, and Erin Stafford Funders and policymakers are increasingly recognizing the afterschool field for its vital role in supporting the social and emotional growth and academic achievement of school-age youth. Although this recognition is welcome, it often comes with increased expectations for high-quality research demonstrating the value of programming. To satisfy these demands and make the most of funding opportunities, practitioners must develop strong partnerships with external evaluators. However, developing afterschool evaluation partnerships that work well for all parties is often far more difficult than program directors or evaluators anticipate. Being and Becoming Scientists: Design-Based STEM Programming for Girls Jasmine M. Nation, Danielle Harlow, Diana J. Arya, and Maya Longtin “I am a scientist. I’m not like a scientist.” We were excited to hear this response from one of the girls who participated in our afterschool program focused on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The STEMinist Program was a research-practice collaboration between university researchers and an afterschool program for female students in grades 4 to 6. This article describes how the program’s ongoing design transformations increased girls’ understanding of and interest in STEM. Design-based framing (Barab & Squire, 2009) enabled ongoing adjustments to the program while also identifying best practices for afterschool STEM learning. To understand the program’s progression and outcomes, we examined the features of the learning environment and the relationships among design components by analyzing qualitative data collected before, during, and after program implementation. Participants’ perceptions of science and scientists helped us understand the impact of the program and ways to improve it. Relationships: The Key to Student Success in Afterschool Programs By Ginger Shea Student success and achievement in afterschool programs depend on caring adults who go above and beyond to make children feel that they are special and can achieve anything (Akhavan, Emery, Shea, & Taha-Resnick, 2017). In the Oxnard (California) School District, where I am the afterschool grant manager, many of the 200 staff in the Oxnard Scholars afterschool program are working in their first job. This is the first time they have been in charge of young people and the first time they have been called “teacher.” These firsts can be drawbacks, but they also can create powerful opportunities to build staff members’ capacity to engage students and enrich their lives.https://repository.wellesley.edu/afterschoolmatters/1038/thumbnail.jp