LEARNING BY DOING

Drawing in Youth Through the Visual and Performing Arts

More Than Entertainment

Activities in the arts engage young people in a variety of media: visual, electronic, musical, and theatrical. The arts can empower young people to test themselves as individuals and provide them with opportunities for self-expression. Studies, such as the national evaluation of the YouthARTS Development Project, have shown that arts programs can develop young people’s awareness of and ability to plan for their own future, improve attitudes toward school, and increase self-esteem.

Through the arts, youth can explore their world, express themselves creatively, and learn new talents they didn’t know they had. Young people open up as they draw, paint, dance, act, perform music, take photos, or design Web sites. And youth can learn teamwork from group activities, like participating in dance troupes, musical ensembles, or theater groups or putting together an art exhibit.

As young people learn to take risks and get constructive criticism about their work, they improve their skills, gain confidence, and learn to communicate about their and other’s work. In this way, the arts can help youth better understand others’ points of view and can help connect young people to their communities.

In Washington, DC, youth build relationships with each other and with adults in their communities through Life Pieces to Masterpieces (www.lifepieces.org). Young people in the program tell stories about their life experiences; the group then creates an art project collectively, like a collage or quilt, to recreate and illustrate each shared story. In the process, youth learn to creatively transform challenges into possibilities.

Youth who participate in the arts can also gain new understandings of other cultures, or even of their own. Red Clay Arts (www.redclayarts.com), based in Brooklyn, NY, teaches young people basic photography and documentary filmmaking principles. Every summer, the program moves to a different location. Last year, through the program, young people in the Mississippi Delta took photographs and filmed documentaries about their life experiences. The summer culminates in a final exhibition where young people share their work, effectively building bridges to people of diverse cultures.

Here are some tips to foster the artist in the young people you know:

Tips for engaging youth in the arts

• Make it fun! Allow youth to explore their passions, talents, and special interests. Offer young people the opportunity to work in several art forms.
  
  
• Keep it relevant! Use hip-hop or other popular music to teach poetry and dance. Or let the youth write, direct, and film their own music videos as an introduction to theater production or digital media.
  
  
• Have youth create a giant mural displaying why they think the arts are important. Encourage youth not only to brainstorm but to produce a piece of art in and of itself. Or divide everyone into groups, and have each group come up with its own presentation of why the arts are meaningful. It could be a cartoon, a rap, a skit. Ask the young people to vote, and give a prize for the best presentation.
  
  
• Encourage young people to make "the worst piece of art they've ever seen." It could be the most ridiculous poster, song, or performance art. In this activity, youth are encouraged to break the "rules" and do whatever they want. They may realize that even their “worst” work can be funny and valid and that they have nothing to lose by taking chances.
  
  
• Collaborate with local artists, dancers, theater companies, orchestras, or museums to help lead a class, give a special performance, or provide volunteer or internship opportunities for youth.
  
  
• Take young people on trips to museums, theatres, movies, and concerts to expose them to others’ work and inspire creativity.
  
  
• Plan an exhibit of the young people’s artwork to recognize their work and highlight their achievements.

Resources

Organizations

President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities
www.pcah.gov

Arts Corps
www.artscorps.org

Latin American Youth Center Art & Media House
www.layc-dc.org/socialenterprises/artmediahouse.html

United Action for Youth
www.unitedactionforyouth.org

YouthARTS
www.americansforthearts.org/youtharts

Curricula

ARTSEDGE – National Arts and Education Network
artsedge.kennedy-center.org

National 4-H Communication and Expressive Arts Curriculum
www.n4hccs.org

Learning by Doing was developed for the Family and Youth Services Bureau; Administration on Children, Youth and Families; Administration for Children and Families; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, by the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth (NCFY). For more information on ways to engage young people, please go to ncfy.acf.hhs.gov, or contact NCFY at (301) 608-8098.