Youth Leaders Develop Graphics to Emphasize the Values of CYD

The text within this graphic are repeated in the What is CYD? page's body text.

Young artists and activists from RYSE Youth Center (Richmond, CA) and youth leaders from Re:Frame Youth Arts Center (Phoenix, AZ) held a series of conversations to discuss how they define Creative Youth Development values, what CYD looks like in practice, and their expectations of adult partners in CYD spaces. A series of graphics emerged from these conversations to help guide adult practitioners and spark larger conversations about What is Creative Youth Development?

Mapping Skill to Will and Building Pathways to Funding

Two students of the Memphis Music Initiative talk during rehearsal

In 2019, the CYD National Partnership’s Funding Action Team conducted research that resulted in an analysis of current and potential CYD funders, the experience and attitudes of those funders through a developed Skill/Will Map, and a deep-dive set of case stories illuminating partnerships between funders and CYD programs. Written by Jeff Poulin of Creative Generation, these papers summarize the current understanding of funding for Creative Youth Development.

Three Local CYD Peer Networks Selected for Support

children dance to a musical performance

Networks in Austin, TX; Becker County, MN; and Detroit, MI have been chosen, through a national proposal process, to participate in the CYD National Partnership’s CYD Local Networks Project. This project is designed to support the development of youth-centered, local CYD networks that align with the core values of CYD – youth voice, racial equity, and collective action. More.

NEA Funds $50,000 Grant for Development of CYD Local Networks

NEA logo

The National Guild for Community Arts Education was been approved for a $50,000 Arts Works grant to support the Creative Youth Development National Partnership. This project will support the continued implementation of the National Action Blueprint for Creative Youth Development, a collective impact project. In 2020, key activities of the partnership will include providing joint professional development for three regional networks, online learning opportunities, dissemination of news from the field, and a National Young Artists Summit for teens. More.

2nd Annual National Young Artists Summit

The 2nd Annual National Youth Arts Summit, entirely designed and led by young people, was held in Austin TX. It provided opportunities for youth leaders, ages 13-20, from a range of artistic disciplines, to connect, create, and celebrate together.

Themes for the 2019 Summit Included:

  • Using arts and culture as a frame to approach social issues
  • Having discussions about advocacy and politics in the arts
  • Highlighting local perspectives that can also be applied to other communities
  • Representing diverse perspectives and populations
  • Growing collaborative practices with others
  • Being accessible to all ways people cognitively and physically move through space
  • Challenging conventional thinking, and offer different points of view
  • Confronting barriers that do not allow young artists to be their full self

Read the event program (PDF)