By Tracey Hartmann
Multipurpose out-of-school time (OST) organizations often aspire to hold high expectations for young people. But in the arts, “high expectations” require more than the “popsicle sticks and googly eyes” arts-and-crafts model that these organizations typically offer.
When multiservice OST organizations emphasize that youth deserve the structure, support, and challenge to develop their own artistic skills and creative voice, they are building a culture of respect for creative expression and affirmation of youth participants as artists. And they are taking positive steps toward engaging young people who would like to explore the arts.
The Youth Arts Initiative (YAI), funded by The Wallace Foundation and implemented by Boys & Girls Clubs of America, aimed to address the gap in access to high-quality arts. Research from The Wallace Foundation codified key practices for high quality arts programs into 10 Principles for High-Quality Arts Programs.
Research for Action and McClanahan Associates served as the research partners for YAI. Drawing from our learnings, we are publishing mini-briefs that explore each of the 10 Principles and offer actionable, practical strategies to implement youth arts programs in multipurpose out-of-school time settings.
In this mini-brief, we focus on Principle 4: Culture of High Expectations.
Stay tuned for the next mini-brief in our series!