Youth at risk art programs

Americans for the Arts serves, advances, and leads the network of organizations and individuals who cultivate, promote, sustain, and support the arts in America. Founded in , Americans for the Arts is the nation's leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts and arts education. Load Picture. Resource Type:. Research Abstract. This pamphlet explores how an increasing number of communities are realizing that art programs for at-risk youth offer an effective and more affordable alternative to detention and police-centered crime prevention.

The arts say something about us to future generations. Many of them help children. Here are two of them. In the Spring of , a handful of artists got together with homeless kids to make art in New York City. Art Start kids live in city shelters, on the streets, are involved in court cases, or surviving with parents in crisis.

Art Feeds artfeeds. Check the website for details. Participating students examine, discuss, and create works of art which increases their knowledge and education overall. Peer training and opportunities to share successes and failures are essential. Specialized training needs to be integrated into ongoing training sessions whenever possible. Evaluation should not just measure the impact on youth; it should also be used to improve the program.

The evaluation measures most frequently used to determine the effects of arts programs on youth at risk are journals, portfolios, surveys, and artist observations. Program-specific factors such as staff ratios, hours of contact, and duration of contact are likely to have a major impact on program outcomes. These program factors should be documented in process evaluations. Individual, family, and community factors may influence program outcomes as well.

For these programs, we have provided effective process evaluation methods that can be used to develop a continuous feedback loop that enables constant monitoring and improvement of programs.

Running arts programs for youth at risk is costly and labor-intensive work, especially compared to the costs of other arts programs an agency may offer. The important cost comparison, however, is between arts programs and the costs of counseling, incarceration, and other societal and human costs of juvenile delinquency.

The YouthArts Toolkit is designed to assist agencies in designing and documenting effective arts programs for youth at risk, but it has other, related applications. The planning model presented herein can be used to support the development of effective funding proposals. Funders, likewise, can use the list of critical elements and best practices to inform their grant and program evaluation criteria.

We hope the kit will prove helpful to other partners as well. The fundamental hypothesis underlying the YouthArts project has been articulated in a dramatic and audacious way in the now famous bumper sticker, "Art Saves Lives.

Our work and the work of Shirley Brice Heath, James Catterall, and others suggests that the arts can provide a particularly powerful tool to engage youth and spark their curiosity and commitment; enhance thinking and problem solving skills; set high standards of quality, success, and achievement; provide opportunities to make tangible contributions to the group and the community and be recognized for those contributions; promote constructive peer and mentor relations through teamwork, decision-making, and critique sessions; create a working environment featuring clear roles and responsibilities; and allow risk-taking in a safe and supportive environment.

The arts open the door to self-reflection and self-expression. They provide the literal means for one of the most important tasks our youth face: to pose and wrestle with questions about the very direction of their lives.

We all take heart and courage in the importance and value of this work and look forward to continuing existing partnerships and developing new ones. Introduction You've probably seen the bumper sticker "Art Saves Lives. The toolkit Several existing publications do an excellent job of describing the achievements of arts programs designed for youth at risk, and information on artist training recently has been published as well.

In conclusion "I liked sending a message.