Unlocking creativity for youth development within an increasingly digital society

• In Event: Catalysts of Change: Youth, Education, and Creativity in a Digital Era

Proposal

The Need. Every young person has the innate potential to become a creative contributor within our increasingly digital society, but not all have the same opportunity to unlock that creativity. Creative engagement then becomes an act of a few, while many are limited by the lack of space, support and opportunities. The International Youth Foundation with Burberry Group plc and The Burberry Foundation is implementing Burberry Inspire to equip young people to unlock their creativity and become catalysts for change in their communities. Ten youth-serving NGOs in eight cities—Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong S.A.R., Milan, Florence, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco— are implementing Burberry Inspire programmes focusing on underserved young people, including inner city, low-income, ethnic and gender-based minorities. The project assesses participants ability to demonstrate creativity; skills and knowledge to plan and execute community action; engagement in community action; changes in self-efficacy, self-confidence, problem-solving and communication; and aspirations for a pathway to a livelihood.

Relevance to CIES 2025. As Bruno and Canina state “creativity… has become a democratic necessity and the most important human skill to face the uncertainties brought by the digital era we are going through” (2019). At the same time that society’s digital transformation opens opportunities for creative activities to a wider group, the fast pace and scattered attention considered to be the remnants of digital immersion seem inconsistent with meaningful creative pursuits. Further, the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Survey found that 73% of organizations surveyed identified creative thinking as an increasingly important priority skill for their employees (2023). As recently outlined by Rachel Wells in a Forbes newsletter (Jan 28, 2024), creativity in the workplace is important for several reasons, including career development, ability to adapt to change, potential for competitive advantage, irreplaceable by AI, and contributes to an organization’s growth mindset. This makes creativity an essential skill for preparing young people for the modern workplace. This paper describes the short-term effects of a collection of interventions in after-school programmes across 8 cities in Asia, Europe and the US to boost young people’s creativity.
Methods and Guiding Framework. The project theory of change states that by engaging and developing young people’s creativity and giving them well-designed opportunities to develop and learn, young people in the Burberry Inspire Programme will 1) gain greater self-confidence and other foundational life skills critical for success in life; 2) acquire the information, connections and motivation needed to further their educational or career plans in the future, and 3) become equipped to play a positive role in their communities.
Each organization uses the Creative Youth Development (CYD) framework defined by the Creative Youth Development National Partnership, developing a range of programmes that promote activism through creative activities and work products. Using the CYD framework in education unleashes in young people a strong sense of identity, community, and civic engagement and activism.

Results. Burberry Inspire received 807 pre-test and 667 post-test surveys from seven partners: CSV Milan, CYC San Francisco, Future for Youth Foundation (FYF) in Seoul, Girls Inc of New York (GINY), Girl Scouts of Japan (GSJ), Heart of Los Angeles (HOLA) and Hong Kong Youth Arts Foundation (HK-YAF).
An average of 67% of Burberry Inspire participants surveyed were female, and the gender breakdown varied from 38% female in CSV Milan to 98% female in GINY. The largest proportion of respondents (47%) were 14 or younger, followed closely by those between 15 and 19 (45%). Only 8% of respondents were 20 years or older. Among partners reporting disability status, 3.5% of students reported having a disability.
Participants reported creating more creative products after participating in the project (61% to 80%). This was true for both students 14 and younger and those 15 and older.
Participants ages 15 and older reported many changes in the domains of interest, such as increased community action and positive changes in foundational life skills. They also reported higher self-confidence, sense of belonging and perceived creativity. However, no changes were found in self-efficacy and getting along with others, though both of these areas were quite high at pre-test. Among participants 14 years and younger, no significant changes for any domain areas were found.
Consistent differences were found by gender among participants 15 and older: Females’ scores started higher generally and made larger gains across several domains. Similar trends were found across regions. No differences were found in domains by region or partner.

Recommendations. Several recommendations came from our analyses. First, it is worth exploring the potential of leveraging the combination of changes projects are making in both participants’ perceptions to execute community action and actual community action, along with increased sense of belonging in community. These outcomes together could be a powerful combination to support more community action. Second, extra attention may be advised for males in creativity programmes to elevate the effects of the experience to levels similar to females. Third, additional qualitative data may inform the reason for the lack of significant increases in outcomes among those ages 14 and under, or how to measure programme effects differently that are more in line with differences young people experience. Finally, we will pay close attention to the outcomes of self-efficacy and getting along with others to see whether programmes can support these desired domains better.

Authors

• Adam Yockey, IYF

• International Youth Foundation Lynda Gomez de la Vega, International Youth Foundation

• Bertrand Foulkes Romo, International Youth Foundation

• Linda Fogarty, IYF