Youth Arts Programming – Effects and Outcomes

As an artistic practice that is expressly argued to have instrumental social value in promoting positive youth engagement, stakeholders supporting youth arts in Canada come from a range of sectors. This has produced a cross section of research and recommendations that demonstrates the value of youth arts programming at individual, local and broader social scales.

In 1999, the Department of Justice held the Arts and Recreation Sector Round Table discussions as part of the Youth Justice Renewal Initiative. The discussions emphasized the contribution that youth arts programming makes in establishing positive peer and mentor networks, and how participating in an optional youth arts program encourages and reinforces youth to make positive choices as autonomous individuals.

Wright et. al (2004) designed and evaluated the impact of local arts programming for select youth populations from low income, multicultural communities in five sites across Canada over a nine-month period in the National Arts and Youth Demonstration Project (NAYPD), followed by the Edmonton Arts & Youth Feasibility Study in 2005, which, although much smaller in size and in duration, demonstrated positive findings similar to those of the NAYDP. Both studies make a significant contribution to the empirical evaluation of youth arts programming in Canada, and continue to show that after participating in a locally designed, structured after school youth arts program, participants demonstrated improved problem solving and social skills, a decrease in anti-social behaviour (such as substance abuse or aggression), and improved artistic ability (see also Wright et. al 2006, Wright et. al 2006a).

Browne’s (2003) research on the impact of integrated service delivery for single mothers and their children demonstrates the positive impact that recreational and arts programming has on both participants and the broader social system. Through active outreach in offering free, accessible arts and recreation programs to children, Browne’s research shows that arts and recreation programming serves a cost-effective preventative function for multiple sectors; participation in arts and recreational programming results in a marked reduction in encounters with other social services, such as medical specialists, children’s aid, psychologists, social workers and probation officers.

Warner’s qualitative research with youth groups supports conclusions reached in quantitative studies about the beneficial contribution youth arts makes to youth engagement. Youth on Youth: Grassroots Youth Collaborative on Youth Led Organizing in the City of Toronto highlights the importance of youth-led, culturally relevant arts programming as an effective tool for attracting and sustaining youth participation in positive activities. In Towards a New Youth Program/Policy Remix: Fresh Arts and the Case for Community-based, Youth Urban Arts Programming, Warner’s research team conducted interviews with program participants in the Fresh Arts program that ran in the GTA from 1992 to 1997. Kardinal Offishal, a successful Canadian hip hop artist, attributes much of his success to the personal and professional skill set he developed as a program participant.

… I learned how to make music while in the Fresh Arts program…all the things that artists might have to pay a lot of money for people to do, we learned how to be self sufficient and how to be independent and…that is how my whole career got started on a major level. (Warner 2006: 17)

To summarize, key themes in the literature reflect that youth arts programming: