Mr. Jeff M. Poulin

A Future for Creative Youth Development

Posted by Mr. Jeff M. Poulin, Sep 15, 2014 1 comment


Mr. Jeff M. Poulin

Jeff Poulin Jeff Poulin

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the Arts Education Partnership’s annual National Forum. Aside from the connecting with arts education friends and learning tons (I mean tons!) in the sessions, I also had the opportunity to sit in on a session titled, “Fostering Student Success by Leveraging the Impact of Out of School Time, Creative Youth Development Programs.” What was great about the session was the interconnectivity of people, research and agenda from so many other national conversations which were initiated as a result of the policy and advocacy agenda produced after the first National Summit on Creative Youth Development in Boston.

Last March, I had the pleasure of attending this summit to participate with about 250 others representing the field of creative youth development: program leaders, educators, funders, advocates, etc. At the close of the summit – after having crafter the aforementioned agenda – all participants (myself included) had the opportunity to stand on a chair in the scenic ballroom of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, look at our fellow participants framed by the giant windows overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and proclaim what they would do to advance the agenda. On behalf of Americans for the Arts, I was able to stand on my chair and announce that we would work to explore policy and advocacy opportunities at the local, state and federal levels.

Well what does that mean? It’s actually a very daunting task.

Once I made it back to Washington, D.C. and met with the arts education program team, we created a plan. It consisted of meeting with our counterparts to determine some next steps, to begin exploring opportunities for policy and advocacy within our current systems and to incorporate Creative Youth Development work into our professional development programming. We have met, we have explored, and the blog salon this week is the first of many offerings of professional development around Creative Youth Development.

Working with the Arts Education Network Council, we identified 5 key topics in relation to the Creative Youth Development agenda that are important to help arts education advocates better understand this newly named field. Each day this week will be framed around one of these key topics and led by a central question. Below, I have outlined the week:

  • Monday: The Research. We know that the Creative Youth Development field is not a new thing, so what research is out there in relation to this work?
  • Tuesday: Exemplary Programs. What does good Creative Youth Development programming look like?
  • Wednesday: Evaluation. How do we measure success in Creative Youth Development?
  • Thursday: Funding. What funding structures currently exist to support Creative Youth Development programming and organizations?
  • Friday: Advocacy. What is next for the field of Creative youth Development and how can I work to advance it?

I invite you to take a read over the course of the week, as our 20+ talented writers provide insights, examples and provoking questions in response to these questions. If you’d like to participate in the discussion, please be sure to comment on the posts.

Additionally, the Arts Education Network Council with special guest, Council member, Matt D’Arrigo, CEO and Founder of A Reason to Survive – ARTS (as seen on TEDx and The Today Show), will be hosting an #ArtsEdChat on Twitter this Friday, September 19th at 2pm EDT/11am PST. Be sure to follow @Americans4Arts for more information.

Happy reading and I hope to see you at the #ArtsEdChat on Friday!

1 responses for A Future for Creative Youth Development

Comments

Mr. Jonathan Herman says
September 15, 2014 at 7:23 pm

Thanks Jeff for kicking this off. The National Guild is pleased to participate and to have partnered with the President's Committee on Art and Humanities and the Massachusetts Cultural Council to present the National Summit on Creative Youth Development last spring. The Guild has put together a web resource that contains some keys resources for people wanting to learning more about Creative Youth Development: http://bit.ly/1nhEPSp

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