The following post originally appeared on the ArtPlace blog on July 16, 2020.
Youth Development: The Future of Creative Placemaking
By Jamie Hand, Director of Research Strategies, ArtPlace
Together, ArtPlace America and Creative Generation are pleased to announce a new research initiative focused on arts, culture, and youth development.
This partnership will explore the intersections of creative youth development, creative placemaking, and community development through community based, youth- and practitioner-led research. By the end of the year, a series of new web-based tools and resources will be created by and for practitioners operating in this space.
“We are thrilled to be working with ArtPlace on this necessary work to support the field of practice in arts-based youth development,” said Jeff M. Poulin, managing director of Creative Generation. “This year has highlighted how essential community-based creative youth development programs are to the health and wellbeing of young people, civil and social justice of our country, and the re-imagination of community systems to eradicate racism and all forms of oppression.”
Creative Generation was founded in April 2019 as a research initiative and has grown through its work in the United States and around the world. Through pioneering research in the arts and cultural education field – and the relentless assertion that young creatives can change the world by catalyzing creative local solutions to global challenges – the organization has supported projects from San Diego to South Sudan, led by myriad stakeholders including artists, educators, community activists, and youth.
“We are so fortunate to be closing out our cross-sector research strategies in partnership with Creative Generation,” said Jamie Hand, Director of Research Strategies at ArtPlace, “and we see an exciting opportunity within the Youth Development sector to be more comprehensive than ever before. Young people are showing up and speaking out on so many issues facing their communities — from displacement to environmental justice to systemic violence and more — and they are, quite literally, the future of the creative placemaking field.”
To date, ArtPlace America has invested $104 million to grow the field of creative placemaking through demonstration projects, in-depth investments in organizational change, and research.