In many districts, school-based arts programming has declined, with schools serving students from low-income communities often offering fewer arts learning opportunities than those in higher-income areas. In this context, community-based arts organizations play a vital role in supplementing school arts programming and expanding access to creative experiences for young people. Across neighborhoods, these organizations provide spaces where youth can explore their identities, build skills, and connect with their communities through the arts.
In their 2025 report, a team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh set out to explore the values and goals that these community-based arts organizations brought to the design of their programs. Through their work, they have defined them as “culture-centered, community-based youth arts programs.”
According to the researchers’ definition, culture-centered, community-based youth arts (CCYA) programs integrate high-quality arts learning experiences with community-based youth development practices and culturally sustaining approaches. CCYA programs are designed to provide young people with opportunities for belonging, identity affirmation, and skill development through the arts.
Through their interviews with staff and participants in CCYA programs, researchers confirmed that participants often experience joy, a sense of accomplishment, and a growth in confidence and significance through their engagement in the arts.
“I started this when I was in ninth grade…And I was very afraid because I was in a new environment with new people and I was becoming a new person,” one youth participant from Detroit shared with the researchers about their CCYA program. “I think that being a part of this program has given me the confidence and the voice to say…I am becoming who I want to be. I think that’s very important.”
I think that being a part of this program has given me the confidence and the voice to say…I am becoming who I want to be. I think that’s very important.
— Youth participant
CCYA programs also promote what the researchers call “well-becoming,” which is movement towards a desirable future state.
“I think it opens [peoples’] eyes more to the opportunities in the field,” said another youth participant from Chicago. “Like if they go into this program, they see, ‘I can make a living off of doing graffiti, drawing’…and then they see this, and see how they can do it…properly, and not get in trouble for it. Then they actually try and pursue that.”
The researchers identified seven characteristics of ways that CCYA programs support well-being and well-becoming:
- Nurture Artistic Skill: Programs provide creative communities that develop skill and confidence in the arts
- Cultivate Creative Restoration: Programs engage youth’s minds and bodies in creative expressions that promote positive emotions
- Establish Artful Sanctuaries: Programs create sanctuaries for connection with artistic peers and adults
- Foster Generative Connections: Programs engage deeply with broader communities through performance and resource sharing
- Highlight Meaningful Pathways: Programs support pathways into becoming an adult who appreciates and values the arts
- Promote Cultural Visibility: Programs acknowledge, affirm, and celebrate the past, present, and future of people of color
- Emphasize Equity Intentionality: Programs disrupt racial and economic barriers to arts experiences for youth of color
Besides these characteristics, the researchers also noted how CCYA programs interact with their local communities and students’ learning and development ecosystems. Their results reveal a symbiotic relationship: Communities support programs, programs support communities, and program collaboration strengthens the learning ecosystem.
For more insights on arts organizations rooted in communities of color, check out Wallace’s Advancing Well-Being in the Arts initiative.
