Drawing on the author’s doctoral research, this book explores young people creating art in their communities in informal settings, supported by grassroots youth organizations like youth clubs, community centers, and church organizations, and how the arts can impact the lives of young people and their development. It examines arts programs targeted at youth under deficit labels and shows how the most disadvantaged young people often get the weakest arts programs. It looks at young people's experiences of Arts Award, a national arts program in England, as well as global programs from around the world, discussing assumptions around arts programs for young people under deficit labels, global trends in youth arts programs, and how they can be used to challenge deficit discourses, as well as an alternative framework consisting of the elements of common culture through the use of digital and do-it-yourself practices, cultural democracy and the representation of local communities, and cultural citizenship and what kinds of citizens youth are expected to be. Chapters then discuss arts practices and pedagogies used with young people in youth work settings, particularly the Arts Award program and how it can be a tool for youth work and monitoring and control, as well as a means for grouping young people into deviant social groups, and international case studies, particularly Dancehearts in Finland, Bolt FM in Scotland, Propel Youth Arts WA in Australia, SWAN Youth Service in Ireland, Chicago Arts and Music Project, and Jugend- & Kulturprojekt in Germany, through the themes of common culture, cultural democracy, and cultural citizenship. Policy Press is an imprint of Bristol University Press. Annotation ©2022 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
