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Challenges in Organizing Opportunities for Young People to Become Creative Civic Producers

Sat, April 18, 2:45 to 4:15pm, Sheraton, Floor: Ballroom Level, Sheraton V

Abstract

Objectives
This poster demonstrates one example of the process of organizing entry points into civic participation through a public art project. There is a lack of access to opportunities to participate in civic life for people of color and those in economically disadvantaged circumstances (Flanagan & Levine, 2010; Zaff et al., 2009). Programming for youth to participate in public life through creative production address this lack of opportunities (Soep, 2006; Goldman et al., 2007; Pinkard et al., 2008; Herr-Stephenson et al., 2011). Understanding the best ways to design intentional spaces for critique and deliberation is one approach to this need, so that youth can engage in critical discussion and reflection on the connection between their interests and public work (Aakom et al, 2008; Soep & Chavez, 2011).

Theoretical Framework
This analysis views learning as a process of ontological change (Packer & Goicoechea, 2000; Packer, 2010) to understand how young people are developing through their practices as producers of public art. In this theoretical approach, learning is often framed in terms of coming to full participation in activity (Lave & Wenger, 1990), and has been expanded to include trajectories that are not yet known (O’Connor & Allen, 2010). In this expanded view, learning is not simply acquiring knowledge and skills, but rather coming to understand the self and others connected within larger systems of activity (Nespor, 1994, 2004).

Methods
This observational study used critical ethnographic methods (Carspecken,1996) to collect data on a youth creative internship program where 15 high-school-age participants collaborated with a professional artist to complete a public mural for the city. These methods attempt to account for the interpersonal and the systemic and bridge the activities that people engage in with broader social considerations, like how power and societal inequities affect the life opportunities of certain individuals.

Data sources
The data sources for this analysis include 40 hours of observation of the summer mural project, and 10 hours of video artifacts produced by the youth interns in the program, which documented planning sessions, community meetings and street side interviews of neighborhood residents while the mural was being completed.

Results
The results show some of the approaches that were beneficial to creating an inviting entry point into civic life through creative work, including bringing together community members and artists to create a learning ecology comprised of many perspectives. This study also illuminated some of the challenges to supporting long term trajectories in civically-engaged creative production, including the difficulty young people and their mentors face in connecting their creative work with academic and career pursuits.

Significance of the study or work
Programs where young people can produce art and media engaged with social issues can offer a platform to express agency and impact public discourse. This poster contributes to the discussion about what works in designing these types of programs, and more importantly highlights some of the challenges presented to those who hope to construct programs that will allow young people to develop civically engaged life pathways.

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