Teen Arts Puentes Project
Arts-activism and youth-development program for San Antonio, Texas, teenagers ages 13-17. Long-term, year-round program of Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. Workshops in theater, poetry, video art, and visual art led by professional artists in apprenticeship structure.

(Out)Laws & Justice
Nonprofit organization that offers an eighth-grade interdisciplinary curriculum of history/social studies, language arts and drama. Students to critically reflect on the values that drove U.S. westward expansion and its legacy in their lives. Project culminates in student–written and –performed plays. Based in Los Angeles, Calif.

360 Degrees: Perspectives on the U.S. Criminal Justice System
Web site by Picture Projects based on interviews with prisoners, victims, prison and parole officers, lawyers, judges, parents. Panoramic movies of environments, audio diaries (with NPR), transcripts, photos, prisons info, quizzes, polls.

52nd Street Project
New York City organization dedicated to matching the inner-city children of Hell's Kitchen with professional theater artists to create original theater.

7th Generation Image Makers
Native youth and art program based at Native Child & Family Services of Toronto, Ont., Canada. Works with at-risk Native youth creating murals and art projects such as regalia making, painting, mixed media and photography.

ARROW
Art: a Resource of Reconciliation over the World (ARROW). Web-centered project to build a creative dialogue between schools in Plymouth, England and their counterparts in Palestine, Kosovo and South Africa. Partnership of The College of St Mark & St John, Plymouth City Council Department for Life-Long Learning, The Barefoot Project, Christian Aid and Burnley Youth Theatre.

ARTPAD
Initiative of Centre for Applied Theatre Research, University of Manchester, U.K. Training/information resource in theatre-based participatory development techniques. Aimed at NGO workers, focuses on gender and social inclusion, new ways of participation and access to information and decision making. Projects in Brazil and Peru.

About Face Youth Theatre
Chicago theater by/for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered youth and their allies

Add Verb Productions
Maine-based touring project using theater to facilitate community response to youth issues (eating disorders, relationship violence, sexual assault). "Play-in-a-Box: Violence Prevention Kit for Youth Action Groups" (2005).

AfroReggae
Cultural group (break-dance, capoeira, circus and 11-piece band) established in the favela (shantytown) of Vigário Geral, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1993. They aim "to take young people out of the drug trade through arts-based activities," working in the poorest, most violent communities in Rio. Insight programme: community-based mixed-arts workshops, debates and trainings.

Albany Park Theater Project
Ensemble of teenagers creating original theater out of the real-life stories of the Albany Park community in Chicago.

All-ages Movement Project
Network of community-based organizations that connect young people through independent music and art. Based in San Francisco, Calif.; founded by Shannon Stewart.

American Alliance for Theatre and Education
Works to promote theater for youth at all levels across America; includes national Theatre in Our Schools campaign.

Apollo Theater Foundation
Nonprofit organization established in 1991, dedicated to preservation and development of Harlem's Apollo Theater. Apollo Theater Academy: career and leadership skill development through seminars, internships, career days, workshops for New York City and tri-state-region young people.

Armory Center for the Arts
Community arts center in Pasadena, Calif., with prodigious gallery, studio, community, education and public art programs. Site includes "Neighborhood Art Projects" map/guide to public art throughout the Pasadena area created by participants in Armory programs. Began as the education department of the legendary Pasadena Art Museum; now located in renovated National Guard Armory and ancillary sites in Old Pasadena.

Art Child
France-based association with international mission: "To unite children around the world by organizing contests and collaborative events related to Art and Culture...to improve the sociability and the collaborative qualities of children." Partner in U.N./UNESCO's "2001-2010 international decade for a culture of peace and nonviolence for the children of the world." Partners in 150 countries. Fresco and choral-music contests, traveling exhibitions. Financial support to organizations that benefit street children in seven countries.

Art Start
Artist-run programs for New York City for homeless and at-risk kids. Arts in the Shelters, Media Works Project, Hip Hop Project and Mentoring Program.

Art for Justice
Pennsylvania-based organization founded by social worker Ann Marie Kirk to support and exhibit the art of incarcerated individuals "to promote dialogue and find effective ways to prevent crime, reduce levels of incarceration improve the criminal-justice system & public safety." Sales of artwork online, Road Map for Life workshops engaging adjudicated youth, annual Art for Justice Exhibit.

Art for Social Change
Artists' network of ten European Resource Centers working with young people in areas of social and political turmoil. Supported by the European Cultural Council.

Art in Action Youth Leadership Program
Small multiracial collective founded 2000 by artists and youth advocates based in Oakland, Calif., working with young artists impacted by violence and poverty "to cultivate leadership through dance, theater, music, spoken word/poetry, painting, storytelling, and media arts." Based in popular and political education. Annual Leadership Training: 5-10 day summer camp open to ages 17-25. Programs: Dig This Story! Digital Storytelling; “Turf Unity” Music Program; Performances and Workshops; participation in the Silence the Violence Collaboration; online artwork.

Art of Elysium
Nonprofit provider of free arts opportunities to critically and chronically ill youth. Girl Talk (for girls ages 10 - 16) and Yo Lo Tengo (for boys ages 11 - 17) teach young people with physical differences to use expressive arts skills as a means of managing stress, increasing self-esteem and building social skills. Acting, art, comedy, fashion, music, radio, songwriting and creative writing workshops led by volunteer professional artists. Founded by Jennifer Howell, 1997. Based in Universal City, Calif.

ArtSpan
ArtSpan produces San Francisco Open Studios and Inner City Public Art Projects for Youth, publishes A Free Guide to San Francisco Open Studios, and organizes workshops to help artists with professional development.

ArtWORKS!
Year-round after-school, summer programs for high-school teens from neighborhoods with high drop-out rates. Arts retail job training in design, manufacture and marketing of painted furniture and tiles. program of Tucson/Pima Arts Council, Tucson, Ariz.

ArtWorks Curriculum
Series of 12 units by Institute for Children and Poverty (four units each for grades K-1, 2-3, 4-5) that integrate language arts, social studies, dance, drama, music and the visual arts for elementary-school students. Academically rigorous units based on national curriculum standards use children's fiction and nonfiction books, CDs, DVDs, and videotapes. Designed to be taught by regular classroom teachers and by educational staff in after-school and literacy programs in shelters and other community facilities. For purchase.

Artists Helping Children
New Jersey-based organization in hospitals clinics and shelters, dedicated to "comforting children with donated artwork, donated murals, donated art supplies, donated toys and a lot of love." Many online resources for creating and locating similar programs.

Artists for Humanity
Boston, Mass.-based organization using art and creative process to link young people with business; job training and school-to-work programs; commercial services and exhibitions for student work; graphics, photography, silkscreen, sculpture and painting studios.

Arts & Spirituality Center
Nonsectarian organization in Philadelphia, Pa., founded by a group of artists and spiritual leaders to focus on social and personal healing through interplay of artistic and spiritual expression. Arts After School program, MasterPeace program, Interfaith Youth Poetry Project, Drums for Peace music program and Teens United Performing Arts Project. Has worked with private, charter and public schools, after-school programs, serving primarily low-income, “at-risk” youth. Founded 2000.

Arts Programs for Juvenile Offenders in Detention and Corrections
1999-2000 partnership of NEA and Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Program/U.S. Department of Justice supporting arts projects for youth during and after incarceration.

Attic Theatre Company
London-based company with contemporary/classic repertoire and outreach programs: Project R, workshops for refugees and asylum seekers (with Company of Angels); plays for senior citizens on Crime Reduction and Home Safety (with Metropolitan Police and Fire Brigade); Young People's Company, 11-14 year-olds in devised-drama workshops.

BAYCAT (Bayview Hunters Point Center for Arts and Technology)
San Francisco Bay Area-based learning environment for youth and adults in arts, culture and enterprise. Community partnerships. Studio BAYCAT, the social enterprise arm, offers marketing packages, Web sites, video documenting. Modeled after Manchester Craftsmen's Guild/ Bidwell Training Institute in Pennsylvania.

Bauen Camp
Nonprofit residential summer camp and community outreach network teaching youth ages 13-18 how the arts can be used to build social creativity and responsibility; founded by artist Jessica Holt on her Parkman, Wyo., ranch

Bay Area Center for Independent Culture (BACIC)
Nonprofit organization in San Francisco, Calif., dedicated to promoting human development through the use of an innovative performance and development based model. Creating outside-of-school educational and performing-arts activities for young people living in the Bay Area's poorest communities. Community and experimental theater, leadership training, volunteer initiatives that build and strengthen communities. Programs: All Stars Talent Show Network and Developing Community Theatre. Founded 2002.

Break Arts Collective
International arts and learning collaborative. Text/image projects ihat encourage young people to imagine, create and express the stories of their lives. Arts workshops and residencies; training and professional development; consultation; advocacy. Directed by Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein and Rachel McIntire; established 2005.

Bridging to the Arts
Online guide to innovative theme-based programming at New Mexican summer programs for children and families in 17 sites around the state. By New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.

Brooklyn College Art Lab
Arts and technology after-school site in Brooklyn, N.Y., serving some 700 students a year from some 30 high schools, averaging 80-100 students per day. Central node for The Arts Network at Brooklyn College Community Partnership, a creative learning network linking the college to the communities of Brooklyn; programs in seven Brooklyn high schools.

BuildaBridge International
Nonprofit arts education organization based in Germantown, Pa. Provides "direct arts-integrated intervention (social, spiritual, educational, and therapeutic) and cross-cultural service." Community Arts Program: in transitional homes, after-school and Saturday arts programs. Institute for the Church and Community Arts: training, education and research institute for those who want to integrate the arts in their community service and ministry. Educational Safaris: Overseas arts education and service program. BuildaBridge Consulting: Professional consulting for cross-cultural service, organizational development, community arts, curriculum writing and development, learning assessment and evaluation, arts management for conferences and overseas travel.

CASES
The Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services, New York City. Works with justice system to offer structured alternatives more substantial than probation, but less costly and intrusive than jail or prison. Projects: Art Therapy; Court Employment Project; Community Service Sentencing Project; Nathaniel Project for offenders with mental illness; Parole Restoration Project for parole violators with special needs; Girls Program; Community Prep High School; more.

Caldera
Nonprofit arts-education organization with a mission to foster creativity among underserved youth and adults, "believing that the arts and the out-of-doors are powerful vehicles for fostering creativity and a strong sense of self-worth." Programs take place in schools and community centers throughout Portland and Central Oregon, and at Caldera’s Blue Lake facility in the Oregon Cascades. Programs: arts partnerships, artist school residencies, summer arts retreats, apprenticeships, retreats for professional artists and writers.

Cathedral Choir School of Delaware
Music education program for economically disadvantaged youth 7-18 at the The Cathedral Church of Saint John Episcopal Cathedral in Wilmington, Del. Performed in some of the world’s most renowned cathedrals, serves as a prototype for church choral-education programs.

Center for Children’s Theatre Development
Promotes modern theater for children emphasizing its educational and social role. Established December 2002 in Pristina, Kosova, by young Kosovar playwrights and actors. Workshops, productions. Projects: Theatre for Children – Art and Education and Children’s Mobile Theatre.

Center for the Arts
New Jersey-based organization focused on youth development through the arts. Drug- and alcohol-abuse prevention programs.

Centre for Children's Theatre Development (Kosova)
Children's theater program in arts and education, based in Prishtina.

Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning
Publication presenting recent studies that demonstrate the link between involvement in the arts, positive youth development and academic achievement. Research conducted in in-school and out-of-school settings via quantitative/qualitative methods. Figures, statistics, stories, theories. Researchers include James Catterall, Shirley Brice Heath and Steve Seidel. Written, published by Arts Education Partnership and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, 1999.

Chesapeake Center for Youth Development
Training center for disadvantaged youth in Baltimore, Md., with strong arts program. Chesapeake Alternative School serving youth referred by Dept. of Juvenile Services and other governmental agencies; after-school programs; job training, internships; social-work services, counseling.

Chicago Children's Choir
Educational group with school, neighborhood and concert choirs

Children Helping Children
Musical charity organization based in New York, supporting pediatric wards of area hospitals and national medical organizations through in-hospital concerts and gala fundraising events. Founded by concert violinist Jourdan Urbach when he was seven years old.

Children's Coalition Inc.
Multimedia arts center for inner-city, at-risk, first-time and repeat offender youth in Palm Beach, Fla.

Children's Dance Foundation
Dance-education organization in Birmingham, Ala., reaching 3,000 children a week. Movement-to-Music program at 30 community sites, reaching 1,500 students ages 2-7 years; more than at-risk or disadvantaged, many with physical, emotional or mental disabilities.

Children's Landscape
Archive of Norwegian architect Frode Svane's findings about participating with children and youth in city planning, landscape and school architecture, school grounds, green schools and "nature" schools. Rich in theory, workshop methods and photos

Children's Peace Theatre
Helps youth explore notions of peace and conflict through the performing arts. Monthly Stone Soup Community Gatherings, conflict-evolution workshops, Sounds Like Peace (music), Art for Change (visual art), Performers for Peace. Directed by founder Robert Morgan in Toronto, Ont., Canada.

Children's Prison Arts Project
Nonprofit arts-education organization working in visual and educational theater with juveniles in correctional facilities and shelters in Harris County, Texas. Founded by artist Birgit Walker, 1993.

Children's Theatre Company
Minneapolis, Minn., resident theater company; adapts children's classics, commissions new works. New-play development lab; Center for Innovation and Theatre Education; Theatre Arts Training program. Directed by Peter Brosius.

City Stage Co. of Boston
Programs for urban children, youth and families in the performing arts: traveling theater company; arts education; interactive exhibits and programs for museums nationwide.

City Studio
Community-education program of San Francisco Art Institute launched 2005 in partnership with neighborhood youth-development organizations, school districts and leading artists. Designed to engage high-school juniors and seniors in a rigorous two-year arts-education experience.

City Without Walls
Nonprofit art galery in Newark, N.J., for emerging artists. ArtReach mentorship program pairs promising high-school art students with working-artist mentors. Internship program. Founded 1975.

CityKids Foundation
Teaches young people problem-solving and decision-making processes "that include themselves as part of the solution." Includes numerous arts and communications projects.

Clabber, Coal & Ceilidh
Project at Scottish Mining Museum in Newtongrange, May 2006; 170 primary-school children and support staff from four primary schools attended workshops looking at mining life through dance, poetry and drama, song and percussion. Site includes feedback from students, teachers.

Cloud Foundation
Boston, Mass., organization providing artistic creation and cross-cultural communication programs for urban youth. Programs: Cloud Place youth arts center in downtown Boston, Teen Curatorial Program, traveling workshops, partnerships and collaborative programming.

Columbia College Chicago Office of Community Arts Partnerships
Facilitates reciprocal partnership-building between college and its communities, including collaboration between academic departments and community arts (mainly youth) programs; student placement; mentoring for middle/high schools.

Coming Up Taller
Program honors arts and humanities programs for children and youth at risk. Founded by Bill and Hillary Clinton in 1994

Communities in Schools
"Largest stay-in-school network in America." Brings resources, services, parents, and volunteers into schoolsPartnership programs (with Verizon, Clear Channel, Morgan Stanley), publications, After-School Program Toolkit, online training course. Founded 1977 by Bill Milliken. Based in Alexandria, Va. A Cross-Sector Resource.

Community Arts Partnership Institute
Consortium of six art colleges and university departments working with community-based partner organizations to provide quality arts programming for youth.

Create: Arts for Youth Work (Scotland)
Web site supporting development of high-quality youth arts projects in Scotland: searchable directory, case studies, advice on how to set up projects, information, links, news.

Creative Communities (U.S.)
20 U.S. sites partnering community schools of the arts with housing authorities in after-school/weekend arts classes for youth. By National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, NEA and HUD.

Creative Communities Initiative Summary Report
Report summarizes strategies for successful arts education partnerships with public housing communities. Findings gleaned from 2001-4, $4.65 million partnership among NEA, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts. Initiative provided arts funding to 20 community schools to support high-quality, sequential arts instruction to 7,000 children and youth living in public housing communities. This report outlines the program, its sustainability, strategies, and special considerations. Many ofindings relevant to a wide range of cross-sector arts education partnerships. Downloadable free on Web. (National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, 2006).

Critical Breakdown
Hip-hop activist program committed to engaging young people in social change. Based in Boston, Mass., and supported by American Friends Service Committee. Monthly open mics, conferences, participation in rallies, protests and marches

Dance Mission Theater
San Francisco-based organization including Dance Brigade, a six-member professional women's socio-political, dance-theater and drumming company; annual events showcasing emerging and established Bay Area choreographers; instructional dance program serving adults and youth; 140-seat Dance Mission Theater; rentals. Includes GRRRL Brigade, a dance, theater and taiko drumming company for girls ages 13 and up; and Junior GRRRL Brigade for ages 9-12; both perform regularly in Bay Area for school assemblies, demonstrations, conferences. Also GRRRLs Dance Camp, summers.

DanceArts Vancouver
Performing arts organization with projects for social change called Earth, Fire and Ice. Special focus on teens, environment. Directed by Judith Marcuse.

Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project
Offers stage rights to Tim Robbins' play "Dead Man Walking" to high schools and colleges who agree to incorporate the issue of the death penalty into their curriculum in two academic departments. Web site offers dozens of tools for play production and discourse on the subject, including a blog, on-campus initiatives, local outreach and national and regional links. An initiative of the Death Penalty Discourse Network.

E-race
Qualitative and quantitative examination of the goals and objectives of "e-race," a performance and dialigue project by MISCELLANEOUS Productions of Richmond, B.C., Canada. Charts the project's exploration of youth's obsession with "speed," investigating growth and integration of cast members and audiences' reaction to the live performance and attitudinal changes over time. Written by Tristin Wayte and George Tien; published by MISCELLANEOUS Productions, 2005.

Early Childhood Interventions: Proven Results, Future Promise
Study reviewing findings of rigorous evaluations of 20 early-childhood intervention programs, including home visiting, parent education and early childhood education. Benefits to society, they say, can be measured not just in terms of educational attainment but also in earnings and crime reduction. Study puts $$ value on social benefits. Written by Lynn A. Karoly, M. Rebecca Kilburn, Jill S. Cannon, James H. Bigelow, and Rachel Christina; published by RAND Corporation, 2005.

Educational Video Center
Nonprofit youth media organization teaching documentary video as means to develop artisitic, critical literacy and career skills. Core programs: Documentary Workshop, YO-TV (Youth Organizers TV), Teacher Development Program, Community Engagement. EVC youth-produced documentaries have been broadcast on the NBC, ABC and PBS TV networks and have won more than 100 awards, including an Emmy. Founded 1984 as video class for teenagers in a Lower East Side (N.Y.C.) alternative high school.

El Puente
Community human-rights institution in north Brooklyn. N.Y., that promotes "leadership for peace and justice through the engagement of members (youth and adult) in the arts, education, scientific research, wellness and environmental action." ,Programs: Center for Arts and Culture, Community Health and Environment Institute, three neighborhood Leadership Centers, El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice (high school).

Elders Share the Arts
Intergenerational N.Y.-based organization with community-based programs. Living History Arts Festival, Legacy Art Works. Founded by Susan Perlstein. Offers training in community atrs techniques.

English National Youth Arts Network (ENYAN)
Membership organization creating connections in the English youth arts sector at national, regional and grassroots levels. News and events information, job vacancies listings, blogs, youth arts campaigns, training courses & publication, e-bulletin, research, advice and guidance, publications.

Finding Our Folk
National partnership of artists and organizations seeking to raise voices of 2005 Hurricane Katrina's survivors. "Finding Our Folk" tour (2006 ) by high-school and college students to survivor's locations. Workshops related to Katrina: Documentation (for people displaced); Education (about circumstances before, during and after); Healing (confronting trauma); Organizing (what is actionable), especially among young people. Projects: People's Hurricane Relief Fund, Katrina Quilt, Database and GIS Maps of displaced individuals, performances and celebrations of Gulf Coast region.

First Exposures: Youth Opportunities through Photography (FX)
S.F. Camerawork mentoring program for students ages 11 - 18 are recruited from local agencies serving young people with backgrounds of foster care, homelessness or low-income living situations. Online gallery, public billboard project, Photo Safari field trips, cultural exchange with youth in Ghana. Initiated at Eye Gallery in 1993, developed by S.F. Camerawork 1996.

Flint Youth Theatre
Program of Flint, Mich., Community School District and resident company of Bower Theater in Flint Cultural Center. Community-created new works on social issues, intergenerational programming, drama school, Learning Through Theater for school audiences.

FreeStreet
Focuses on Chicago's marginalized young people, using the performing arts. TeenStreet Theater employs teens to create boundary-breaking theater; Arts Connect trains medical students to provide arts relief for chronically ill children.

Freechild Project
Online clearinghouse of information on youth-led social activism, including the arts.

Freedom Writers Foundation
Nonprofit organization founded in 1997 by Erin Gruwell, dedicated to positively impacting communities by decreasing high-school drop-out rates through replication and enhancement of the Freedom Writers Method. Teacher training through Freedom Writers Institute; scholarship program. Book: "The Freedom Writers Diary" by Gruwell and the Freedom Writers (basis for 2006 Paramount/MTV film).

Fringe Benefits
Educational theater group doing diversity work in communities and schools. Alliance of artists, educators, parents, social justice activists and youth. Based in Los Angeles, Calif.

Full Radius Dance
Atlanta-based modern-dance company including dancers with disabilities. Positive Motion program for children with disabilities.

Galleries of Justice
Museum of the National Centre for Citizenship & the Law (private charity) in Nottingham, England. Key objective: to "Keep Kids Away from Crime and Out of Prison" through experiential leanring in history and citizenship. In historic Lace Market; in use as courts and prisons from 1780s-1980s; court on site since 1375, prison since 1449. Crime & Punishment Tour, HM Prison Service Collection, Narrow Marsh Familiy Activities, school programs.

Gallery 37
Chicago's job-training program for young people, hiring more than 2,600 kids each year as apprentice artists in parks, community centers and schools.

Gateway Performance Productions
Innovative Atlanta-based mask theater company directed by Sandra Hughes, with a commitment to theater for youth, arts-in-education and family audiences.

Global Action Project
Media-arts and leadership training for young people living in underserved communities to create media on local and international issues as a catalyst for dialogue and social change.

Glocal Forum
International nongovernmental organization devoted to "city-to-city diplomacy." Network of over 100 cities from five continents and public- and private-sector partners that gather annually to promote "glocalization." Art programs in youth-development centers(Ethiopia, the Palestinian Territories, Rwanda, Sierra Leone). Art photo projects to raise awareness of urgent situations. Research on art in peacebuilding activities.

Graffitti Art Programming (GAP)
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, community youth art center, using art as a tool for community, social, economic and individual growth. For artists 8-28.

Grrrl Zines A-Go-Go
All-women workshop group based in Southern California focusing on empowerment of young women through production of fanzines and self-published works. Workshops in community venues and college campuses in SoCal region. Founded 2002 by Elke Zobl, founder of Grrrl Zine Network.

GuluWalk
Project drawing attention to plight of children of rural northern Uganda, who, to avoid abduction by the rebel army, walk every night towards the safety of larger cities, like Gulu, from as far as 12km away. Involves PeaceVox and other artists.

Haja Center
A.k.a. the Seoul Youth Factory for Alternative Culture; South Korean organization partnered with Yonsei University; five "factories" for youth work on film and video, the web, pop music, design in life and civil culture. Founded by Cho Haejoang.

Hardwired To Connect: The New Scientific Case for Authoritative Communities
New scientific findings, based in brain research, suggesting "authoritative" communities" -- not punitive or authoritarian -- combine nurture and structure to help children and young people form important attachments and find a safe place to explore big questions about morality, spirituality, human existence. Written, published by The Commission on Children at Risk, 2003.

Healing Story Alliance
Network that explores and promotes the use of storytelling in healing. Site has Treasure Chest of stories with teller notes, Stories for Children in Crisis, Peace Tales, Stories of Self and Community, newsletter, articles, book reviews, bibliography. Special interest group of National Storytelling Network.

ImaginOn
Collaborative venture of the Public Library the Children's Theatre of Charlotte, N.C., occupying entire city block. Library, museum, theater, Story Lab, Tech Central, Teen Loft, classes.

Imaginative Actuality: Learning in the Arts During the Nonschool Hours
Ten-year longitudinal study of young-people's self-selected effective learning sites in the out-of-school hours. Findings: Arts organizations provided some of the most fertile ground for young people's cognitive and linguistic development -- leading to highly developed communication, leadership, collaborative skills. By Shirley Brice Heath and Adelma Roach (In Champions of Change, the Arts Education Partnership and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, 1999).

Inner-City Arts
Visual and performing arts program on downtown Los Angeles, California's Skid Row for children from 32 local elementary schools and two middle schools. Hands-on activities in visual arts, dance, drama, animation, music and ceramics. Annenberg Professional Development program includes Creativity in the Classroom Series, Visiting Scholar and Artist Series and year-long Teachers Institute. Founded 1989 by Bob Bates in response to funding cuts that eliminated arts instruction from L.A. public schools.

Inside Out Community Arts
Award-winning youth arts organization in Venice, Calif. After-school theater program, Neighborhood Arts Project for middle-schoolers from rival gang areas, The School Project , programs at Metropolitan State Hospital for youth hospitalized with severe mental and emotional problems, artist & teacher training, festivals.

Inside Out Community Arts
Los Angeles, California-based arts organization that uses the visual and performing arts to promote healthy interaction among diverse at-risk and underserved Los Angeles middle-school youth. Led by trained teams of professional artists and high-school age mentors. After-school arts programs: The School Project, Neighborhood Arts Project, Allen Young School at Metropolitan State Hospital, L.A. Bridges, program at Dubnoff Center for Child Development. Also The Youth & Family Court at The Abbot Kinney Street Festival, Rhythms (music, poetry, dance), visual art production, teacher training. Founded 1996 by Camille Ameen and Jonathan Zeichner.

Intergenerational Orchestras
Conductor Lorraine Marks has founded two intergenerational orchestras, the New Jersey Intergenerational Orchestra (njio.org) and the Florida Intergenerational Orchestra of America (flioa.org). They include musicians ages 5 to 93 and they perform throughout their respective states in schools, senior-citizen centers, nursing homes and on concert stages.

International Child Art Foundation
Foundation promoting children's creativity with exhibitions, awards and special programs.

Involvement in the Arts and Human Development: General Involvement and Intensive Involvement in Music and Theater Arts
Study analyzes relationship between arts involvement and youth development, using National Educational Longitudinal Survey as a tool. Followed 25,000+ American secondary-school students for 10 years. Found: correlation between general involvement in arts and positive academic achievement; correlation between high levels of participation in music and high achievement in math; correlation between sustained participation in theater arts and number of positive youth development traits. By James S. Catterall, Richard Chapleau, John Iwanaga (In Champions of Change, the Arts Education Partnership and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, 1999).

Involving Youth in Nonprofit Arts Organizations
Report that is an urgent call to nonprofit arts organizations to concentrate on "attracting the best new talent to administer their affairs, to serve as artists and audiences, and to act as advocates, boosters and financial supporters." Includes survey of youth programs in California NAOs, case studies of 12 successful programs, and comparative analysis of youth programs in the , with an in-depth look at two leading organizations. Identifies barriers, proven approaches, best practices, lessons learned and organizational benefits of youth programs. Written by Barry Hessenius, published by William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, 2007.

Jackson County Children's Services Coalition Core Arts Program Evaluation
Profile of two program evaluations conducted by Cleveland in Jackson County, Miss., with statistical results of performance improvement in staff and youth participants. Also includes reduction in referral rates for youth involved in juvenile justice system.By William Cleveland, Center for the Study of Art and the Community, 2002.

Juan Antonio Corretjer Puerto Rican Cultural Center
Nonprofit, community-based umbrella institution founded 1973 by community activists to serve social/cultural needs of Chicago's Puerto Rican/Latino community. Umbrellas Family Learning Center, Consuelo Lee Corretjer Childcare Center, Vida/SIDA HIV and AIDS education and prevention programs; La Casita de Don Pedro community garden and cultural space; Café Batey Urbano cultural space for the youth. Organizes annual Puerto Rican Peoples Parade,co-sponsors Fiesta Boricua annual Puerto Rican music festival. PRCC is the parent organization and provides a space to the Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School.

Kids on the Hill
"Art Action for Neighborhood Change." Community-based program in the Reservoir Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, Md., with programs in arts, academics, entrepreneurship and mentoring. Projects: murals, sculpture garden, photos on city buses, video projects, Kids on the Hill Shop, newsletter. Founded by artist Rebecca Yenawine.

Kids'own
Northern Ireland organization publishing works by children. Came out of Pathways to Peace and Reconciliation in South Tyrone. Children with different religious and social backgrounds are brought together to share stories, art, music and drama.

Latta House
Cultural center on the site of Latta University, founded by a former slave in the freedman's Oberlin Community of Raleigh, N.C. , to educate underprivileged and orphaned black children. Projects: historic preservation; gardening programs for kids; the Jambalaya project to connect neighborhood youth with their elders through documentary and journalistic projects; summer Picnic on the Lawn Arts and Performance Series to unite the diverse community.

League of Young Voters
Uses arts-based organizing, alliance building and nonpartisan voter engagement to build youth civic-engagement and leadership-development organizations in six states: Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Maine, California, Ohio and Wisconsin. Each local affiliate conducts a comprehensive year-round program. Site features nonpartisan voter guides.

Learning in and Through the Arts: Curriculum Implications
Study of 2,000+ public-school students in grades 4-8, conducted by team of researchers from Teacher's College, Columbia University. Found that students involved in high-arts-intensive settings performed better than students in low-arts settings in creativity, fluency, originality, elaboration and resistance to closure. Skills extend into nonarts subject areas like math and science. By Judith Burton, Robert Horowitz, and Hal Abeles (In Champions of Change, the Arts Education Partnership and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, 1999).

Life Home Project
Program for HIV+/AIDS women and their children in Thailand, including Art Programme and Hands Project.

Los Cenzontles Mexican Arts Center
Cultural organization in San Pablo, Calif. (San Francisco East Bay Area) training youth in traditional arts. School for the Arts, community events, cultural exchange, mentorship, touring group, community recording studio.

Magic Me
Organization with 16 years experience running intergenerational arts projects that link older people 55+ with young people aged 9 to 25 years in the East End of London.

Making Books Sing
Children's theater and arts-education organization. Productions based on outstanding contemporary children's books that honor children - their struggles growing up, their cultural diversity and their intellect. School-based artist residencies, professional-development programs for teachers, teacher's resource curriculum packets, parent-child workshops. Based in New York, N.Y.

Manchester Craftsmen's Guild
Center for arts and learning in Pittsburgh, Pa. that employs visual/ performing arts to educate and inspire urban youth and offer mentored training in life skills. Outstanding example of how a minority-directed arts-based curriculum can contribute in empowering young people. Founder Bill Strickland.

Many Versions of Masculine: An Exploration of Boys’Identity Formation through Digital Storytelling in an Afterschool Program
Qualitative research that features case studies of nine urban boys of color, aged nine to 11, who participated in an after-school program where they learned to create digital multimedia texts. Argues for recognition of and support for the different functions such programs can serve when structured as alternative spaces for learning and identity formation. Written by Glynda A. Hull, Nora L. Kenney, Stacy Marple, & Ali Forsman-Schneider; published by Robert Bowne Foundation in Afterschool Matters, 2006. (PDF)

Marwen
Visual arts courses, public on-site and traveling exhibitions, college and career workshops and individual counseling sessions, and work experiences for 2,200 inner-city youth in grades 6-12 annually. Based in Chicago, Ill.

Milagro Foundation
Supports artistic and culturally enriching programs by grassroots organization serving at-risk underrepresented and disadvantaged youth. Founded by Carlos and Deborah Santana.

Mississippi Arts Commission Core Arts Program
Programs in detention centers, adolescent offender programs, alternative schools, holding facilities, and community-based after-school and summer programs using the arts to decrease violence and recidivism, and increase school attendance and positive experiences with adult mentors.

Mississippi Cultural Crossroads
After-school program since 1976 that trains young people to document life in Claiborne County, Miss. Has Peanut Butter and Jelly Theater, troupe of seven high-school students who do stage productions promoting literacy. Also Young Person's Cultural Exchange program.

Missoula Children's Theatre
America's largest touring children's theater, using participation in the performing arts to develop creativity, social skills, goal achievement, communications skills and self-esteem; in Missoula, Montana.

Mosaic Model for Youth Development through the Arts
Three-year study on Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit and its methods, The study identifies and assesses the internationally acclaimed, professional performing arts training program’s goals, practice methods, and expected outcome. Conducted by University of Michigan Department of Psychology, The Detroit Initiative and Detroit-area community-based organizations; published by Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, 2008. Downloadable.

Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit
Performing-arts training program designed to achieve "youth development through the arts." Theatrical and musical performances by National Touring Company; Next Stage Company creates and performs original pieces through local commissions; Mosaic Acting Company; Mosaic Singers. Education Department, classes (English and Spanish), school and summer programs. Many local and national partners.

Moving in the Spirit
Dance and training programs for Atlanta, Ga., young people in inner-city shelters, schools, public housing. Apprenticeship Corporation teaching problems-solving, critical thinking, Kinetechs tech training program in theater production and stage management.

Mural Arts Program
Painted more than 2,300 murals throughout Philadelphia, Pa., since 1984. Workshops for young people teach mural and leadership skills. Program of the City of Philadelphia, Pa.

Music Theatre Workshop
Youth-arts development organization teaches disadvantaged young people writing, producing, and performing original musical theater inspired by personal stories. Works in schools, parks and juvenile prisons in metro Chicago area. Programs: Teens Together; Fabulous Females (for young women incarcerated at Illinois Youth Center at Warrenville); Temporary LockDown (storytelling, movement, drumming workshops for young men/women students at Nancy B. Jefferson Alternative School, Cook County Juvenile Detention Center. Founded 1984 by Meade Palidofsky.

Nancy B. Jefferson Literacy and Creative Media Program
Program at Nancy B. Jefferson Alternative School providing print- and media-literacy skills-enhancement programs to young people detained in Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago, Ill. Programs in tutoring, creative writing, publishing, digital image manipulation, sound editing and sequencing, web design, maintenance of personal computers from the inside out, including building them from scratch. Library, volunteer coordination, school-wide events, seminars. Excellent links to activism in "prison industrial complex" issues.

National Dance Institute
Nonprofit arts education organization founded in 1976 by Jacques d'Amboise. Uses dance "as a catalyst to engage children and motivate them towards excellence." In-school partnerships, workshops, public performances.

National Resource Center for Youth Services
Provides technical assistance, training, research and publications to the youth-services community. Good resource on youth and child development, learning, education, legislation and services in the U.S. Extensive publications, links, online library. Based at U. of Oklahoma, College of Continuing Education. A Cross-Sector Resource.

Nature Consortium
Grassroots organization teaching environmental lessons through the creative arts and hands-on conservation projects. Youth Art Program, Urban Forest Restoration Project, Arts-in-Nature Festival. Based in Seattle, Wash.

New Urban Arts
Providence, R.I., "arts mentoring" organization with programs for high-school students and emerging artists. After-school studio, community partnerships, college/career prep, Youth Council, in-school residencies, adult workshops led by high-school students, professional development programs. Founded 1997.

New York State Literary Center
Founded 1979 by Dale Davis and A. Poulin Jr. One of the first upstate New York arts organizations to send writers into public schools on a regular basis: 250 writers and artists worked with 30,000 children in 500 rural, urban and alternative schools. Projects: High School Literary Magazine; AIDS ‘N US, a peer-directed high-school AIDS-education project; The High School Research Paper A New Approach: Books, Photography, and Video; programs for teachers on children and divorce, race, war; Arts, Literacy and The Classroom Community, serving incarcerated adolescents; The Communications Project, writing program for at-risk youth and publisher of books, CDs, theater pieces.

NiteStar Program
Drama, music and peer-education for pre-adolescents, adolescents and young adults living with HIV/AIDS. Includes direct service, training and technical assistance. Productions created by members of the company, with followup workshops, heighten awareness, provide accurate information and help to reduce risky behaviors. Founded by Dr. Cydelle Berlin in 1987. Located at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center, New York City, N.Y.

PapaInk
International archive of children�s visual art supported by volunteer network of academicians, artists, teachers, parents and children.

Paprika Theare Festival
Annual juried festival in Toronto, Ont., Canada, presenting new theater works written, directed, acted, designed and stage managed by young artists under the age of 21. Founded by Anthony Furey in 2002; runs for two weeks every March.

Paving the way
Study mapping the youth-and-participatory-theater sector with baseline assessment of activity across England. Summarizes findings of an extensive mapping study, regional mapping reports and case-study research. Commissioned to inform development of the Young People's Participatory Theatre project a three-year initiative (2005/06 - 20008/09), funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). By Arts Council England in partnership with National Association of Youth Theatres, 2007.

Peace Child Israel
Nonprofit group based in Tel Aviv that has used theater to teach tolerance and mutual respect to Arab and Jewish teenagers.

Phakama
Southern Africa educational project using community arts projects to train young people about human rights issues through leadership and facilitation. Part of the Communication Initiative.

Phillips Community TeleVision
Youth media organization with training programs, TV magazine, video diaries, Web gallery and more. Based in Minneapolis, Minn.

Playmaking for Girls
Program of Synchronicity Performance Group in Atlanta, Ga. Detention Center workshops, public performances, after-school program, satellite workshops min middle and high schools, extensive community partnerships.

Playwrights Project
Enlightened playwriting program for kids and older people, based in San Diego, Calif.

Poetry Workshop Planning Guide
Manual to help high-schoolers teach poetry to junior-high students, including writing activities they can use when creating their own six-month curricula. From New Urban Arts in Providence R.I., an interdisciplinary art studio and gallery for high-school students.

Power of Hope: Youth Empowerment through the Arts
Arts-centered intergenerational and multicultural learning programs for youth and young adults in leadership, community building, social change. Week-long summer gatherings, weekend leadership gatherings, in-school and after-school programs. Nonprofit based in Washington and British Columbia.

Prime Time Family Reading Time
Reading, discussion and storytelling program at public libraries across Louisiana (and going national). Weekly sessions for whole low-literacy, low-income families based on award-winning children's books. Sponsored by Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.

Prodigy Cultural Arts Program
A.k.a Tampa Arts & Youth Demonstration Project. Youth arts program focused on evidence-based practice. Integrates artistic instruction, case management, program management and research into a coherent, replicable model. Based in Tampa, Fla., a project of University Area Community Development Corporation in collaboration with University of South Florida School of Social Work, Bay Area Youth Services, community and faith-based organizations. Funded by Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.

Project Self Discovery
Cleo Parker Dance School program providing "pro-social alternatives to drugs, crime and violence" for youth in Denver. Twelve-week intensive offers 10-15 phase program: Mental Preparation, Art Classes, Rites of Passage, Community Performances and Graduation.

Prometheus Dance
Modern dance ensemble with community programs in prisons, battered women’s shelters, Alzheimer's Center, public schools. Free, after-school Technical Theatre and Design Program for hearing-impaired and at-risk teens. Elders Ensemble performing in senior centers, healthcare facilities, community events and with the main company in special choreographic projects. Founded 1987 by Diane Arvanites-Noya; directed by Noya and Tommy Neblett. Based in Cambridge, Mass.

Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre
Bilingual New York theater with mainstage productions; free summer performances in barrios, plazas, parks, and other public spaces; Playwright's Unit. Raúl Juliá Training Unit: free after-school program with structured arts-education curriculum and performance classes forlow-to-moderate income Latino and other minority youth in all NYC boroughs. Founded 1967 by Miriam Colón Valle, "helped launch the Spanish bilingual theater movement."

RAW Chiefs
Youth mentoring progam at RAW Art Works in Lynn, Mass., where youth 15-20 meet weekly for training and then collaborate with art therapists in leading groups.

Radio ARTE Chicago
Award-winning Latino-owned, youth-driven, urban community radio station ("the only one in the country"). Bilingual initiative of National Museum of Mexican Art, located in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. Offers full range of Latin music. Covers social-justice issues and engage in dialogue through community journalism and first voice forums.

Regent Park Focus Media Arts Centre
Youth program in Toronto's Regent Park, Canada’s largest public housing community, to develop prevention programs and activities exploring radio and print journalism, and audio, video, photography arts. Catch da Flava Newe, Catch da Flava Radio, E.Y.E. Video Library, Focus Music Studio, Zapparoli Photo Studio. Directed by Adonis Huggins.

River of Words
International environmental poetry and art contest for children on the theme of "watersheds," encouraging children to learn their "ecological address" and to describe through art their own "place in space."

Robert Bowne Foundation
Supports development of out-of-school-hours literacy programs for children and youth in New York City, especially in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. Grants and technical assistance, publications, e-newsletter, bibliography, links to field. Afterschool Matters Initiative: Journal, Occasional Papers, research grants, fellowships.

Rock Solid Foundation
Formed by police officers in Victoria, British Columbia, to provide kids with positive solutions to violence, threats, intimidation and aggressive behavior. Includes Trackside Gallery

Rural School and Community Trust
National nonprofit promoting place-based education in rural schools. Training, networking, technical assistance, coaching, mentoring, research, publications. See practices for "Promoting Arts & Cultural Heritage." A Cross-Sector Resource.

SAY Sí, San Antonio Youth YES!
Arts program providing tuition-free classes to creative inner-city youth in San Antonio. Tex.

San Francisco WritersCorps
Writers-in-service: published poets, fiction writers, performers conducting workshops with youth aged 6-21, primarily low-income, incarcerated, immigrant, homeless or educationally disadvantaged. Workshops occur in public schools, community centers, detention facilities, after-school programs, low-income housing. Annual anthology of youth writing; writing contests; performances at community venues. A project of San Francisco Arts Commission.

Save the Children UK Teaching Resources
Free and priced resources for teachers and youth workers on global children's rights. Includes a downloadable "Children's Rights: A teacher's guide"; a step-by-step guide for children on developing and maintaining a school council; training exercises and handouts for workers training young people to undertake social research; arts-based session plans for work with young people around issues of violence; teaching pack that looks at children taking action in their communities; "Interviewing Children"; cross-curricular resource pack on child labor and globalization; teaching resource for developing an anti-bullying culture in primary schools; citizenship and geography activities about working children. A Cross-Sector Resource.

Self Help Graphics and Art
Visual-arts center located in the Chicano community of East Los Angeles since 1974; printmaking atelier, exhibition print program, Galeria Otra Vez, annual Day of the Dead celebration, Barrio Mobil Art Studio, youth programs, store.

Silence the Violence
Initiative of Ella Baker Center for Human Rights to reduce violence and empower young people to speak as voices for peace in Oakland, Calif. Working to create opportunities for work, recreation and community involvement. "We do everything from throw parties to talk to lawmakers about job and community programs to create them. Our groundbreaking mix of public education, cultural events, policy advocacy and youth leadership development is making a real difference in Oakland."

Southside Neighborhood Arts Council
Resident-driven arts council in the Southside of Syracuse, N.Y., part of a neighborhood revitalization initiative of the Gifford Foundation. Youth arts classes and mini-grants to community arts projects.

Spiral Workshop
Saturday art program for Chicago teens at University of Illinois at Chicago. Part of Art Education degree at UIC.

Steps to Art
Grant program supporting preschool arts-education initiatives at the local level.

Still Waters Youth Sinfo-Nia of Metropolitan Atlanta
African-American youth orchestra giving "talented, young instrumentalists an opportunity to perform a variety of multicultural music, become more proficient musicians (in an environment where there are no auditions), travel, meet other young musicians, prepare to earn college music scholarships, and, perhaps, consider careers in symphony orchestras and/or music education." Founded as William Grant Still Memorial Youth Orchestra of Metropolitan Atlanta in 1990.

Street-Level Youth Media
Educates Chicago's inner-city youth in media arts and emerging technologies for use in self-expression, communications and social change.

Students at the Center
Independent writing-based program directly serving high schools and middle schools in Orleans Parish public school system of New Orleans, La. Student mentor program, staff development for teachers, teen newspaper, teen and multiple-school forums, talk show, publications, media projects, community collaborations.

Synchronicity Performance Group
Atlanta-based women's performance ensemble with "Playwriting for Girls" program at youth detention centers. "Women + War" project.

TRUCE
The Renaissance University for Community Education at Harlem Children's Zone in New York, youth-development program for 200 adolescents that fosters academic growth and career readiness through the arts, media literacy, health and multimedia technology. Teens create award-winning cable TV program ("The Real Deal") featuring poetry, video dramas and documentaries; community murals and gardens; quarterly newspaper (Harlem Overheard). Intensive college-prep program, The Insight Center.

Teaching Literacy Through Art
Three-year study to evaluate the impact of arts education on literacy among elementary-school children. Finds that students in the Guggenheim Museum program Learning Through Art performed better in several categories of literacy and critical thinking skills — including extended focus, hypothesizing, and providing multiple interpretations — than did students not in the program. Published by Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2005-7.

Teenage Life
Organization in Tanzania carrying out projects to educate young people about HIV/AIDS, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), media and culture. Workshops and presentations at Tanzanian universities, schools and communities and 30 cities worldwide. Uses information and communication technology, video, television, radio, music, intercultural exchange, publications, numerous partnerships. Co-founded Tanzanian Youth Network, co-operates an orphanage center for Tanzanian children. Founded in Dar es Salaam, 2000.

The After-School Corporation
TASC, first nonprofit organization in U.S. to set about building a citywide K-12 after-school system. Funds monitors, evaluates and supports after-school programs in New York City public schools. Dedicated to building after-school field nationally. Model programs, advocacy, document library, yough funders database, newsletter. Includes arts programs. a Cross-Sector Resource.

The Art of Democracy - Democracy as Art: Creative Learning in Afterschool Comic Book Clubs
Analysis and synthesis of national launch of The Comic Book Project, an arts-based literacy and learning initiative hosted by Teachers College, Columbia University with materials published by Dark Horse Comics. Paper examines the children's processes and products through the lens of John Dewey's "Democracy and Education." Written by Michael Bitz (project founder); published by Robert Bowne Foundation in Afterschool Matters, 2006. (PDF)

The Artist Inside Program
Nonprofit art program in a juvenile facility in New Mexico. Taught and facilitated by an all volunteer multidisciplinary team including photographer, multimedia artist and videographer—all educators in the Las Cruces, N.M., community working as college instructor, physician and university professor respectively. Site includes newsletter and gallery.

The Brotherhood/Sister Sol
Youth-development organization in New York City that fosters critical thinking, practical skills for negotiating modern life, and leadership competence. Subjects include Pan-African and Latino history, sexism, and conflict resolution. Participating youth have year-round access to guidance and mentoring. Some receive opportunities to study abroad, and all are encouraged to undertake service projects in the community. A Cross Sector Resource.

The Gathering for Justice
Civil-rights organization (a.k.a. The Gathering) dedicated to building a national movement to end child incarceration and address social unrest through direct action using nonviolent means. Founded 2005 by artist Harry Belafonte and elders of past civil-rights movements. Regional gatherings, national convention, seminars, workshops.

The Heritage School
Arts-centered secondary school in New York's East Harlem, a partnership between The New York City Department of Education and Teachers College, Columbia University. New York's cultural institutions (museums, gardens, theaters concert halls) used as "texts for learning." Located in Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center, which provides studios and performing space for Latino artists, dancers, musicians and actors as the centerpiece of an East Harlem Cultural Corridor. Center is also home to Taller Boriqua, Puerto Rican Workshop Inc., Los Plenaros de la 21, Puerto Rican Traveling Theater and Rebel Theater Company.

The Mirror Project
Creates, exhibits and distributes videos that promote social, cultural, and personal-awareness. A major focus of the work is teaching inner-city youth how to create videos about their everyday experiences.

The Point
Nonprofit organization dedicated to cultural and economic revitalization of Hunts Point neighborhood of South Bronx, N.Y. Arts incubator and performance space promote homegrown enterprises of young Latino and African-American entrepreneurs.

The Stockyard Institute
Artist Jim Duignan's collaborative art and educational project currently based in Chicago’s Westside Austin and Back of the Yard neighborhoods. Committed to engaging the questions of youth and residents through education, activism, and media, addressing the primary conditions in participant’s lives through artist collaborations and multimedia practices. Projects include “Designing a Gang-Proof Suit.” Duignan is a professor of Arts and Education at DePaul University. (Site may be under construction.)

The Telling Room
Nonprofit writing program in Portland, Maine, dedicated to young writers and storytellers between the ages of 8 and 18. "The goal is simple: To meet each student's passion for writing with equal enthusiasm, to provide role models for those looking to further their writing, and to privilege the act of storytelling as a vital means of expression and community building." Writing center, Living Writers Series round-table craft talks, workshops, contests, special projects, curricula, publications, online writing gallery. Co-founded by writers Susan Conley and Sarah Corbett.

The Unusual Suspects
Brings together entertainment-industry artists (directors, actors, writers, costume and set designers) to teach their craft to kids in the juvenile justice system and foster care, who then mount their own plays. Based in Los Angeles, Calif.; founded by Laura Leigh Hughes.

The YouthARTS Development Project: Youth Arts Public Art
Study of a delinquency-prevention collaboration by NEA and U.S. Dept. of Justice and three local arts agencies in Georgia, Oregon and Texas. Written by Heather J. Clawson and Kathleen Coolbaugh; published by Dept. of Justice in Juvenile Justice Bulletin, 2001; republished on CAN, 2001.

Tigertail Productions
Florida's pioneer presenter of innovative art since 1979. International exchanges, Tigertail Youth Project in Little Havana, danceAble, educational and community programs. Based in Miami, directed by Founder Mary Luft.

Time & Space Limited
Hudson Valley, N.Y. arts organization with programs in all disciplines dedicated to community and activism. Youth projects and Time To Talk discussion series on local political, social and environmental topics that reflect regional and national concerns. Founded 1991 by N.Y. theater artists Linda Mussmann and Claudia Bruce.

Tostan
African grassroots organization using the arts in nonformal education in local languages (the Community Empowerment Program) to educate poor villagers in Senegal and neighboring countries about development and human rights. Uses modern and traditional African oral techniques, including theater, storytelling, dance, artwork, song, debate, and the sharing of personal experience. "Community-led successes" in six countries in West and East Africa: abandoning female genital cutting, ending child marriage, promoting grassroots democracy, improving maternal and child health, preventing and treating malaria and more. Microcredit program, prison project.

Touchstone Center for Children
New York City-based arts center for kids, with workshops and seminars, publications and archival and arts-and-education projects; affiliated with the Henry Street Settlement's Abrons Arts Center.

Tribes Project
Teen theater based in Seattle, Wash., high schools creating acclaimed diversity projects.

Urban ArtWorks Seattle
Employment, training and mentoring program for at-risk youth. Artists work with youth in designing, painting and installing murals throughout Seattle.

Urban Word NYC
Youth-run program provides free creative writing, spoken word, performance and Hip-Hop resources to teenagers in New York City. Annual Teen Poetry Slam.

VSA Arts Florida
Programs for people with disabilities: development, for youth involved in crime and violence, arts in medicine, professional development for teachers, school and preschool, arts camp, exhibitions, registry, playwright discovery, literacy and more.

Venice Arts: In Neighborhoods
Los Angeles, Calif.-based media arts organization working primarily with low-income children in photography, film and digital arts locally, regionally and internationally. Arts mentoring programs, ArtPartners, Institute for Photographic Empowerment (with USC Annenberg school for Communication), Social Art Initiative. Directed by Lynn Warshafsky and Jim Hubbard.

Village Dancers
San Francisco State University program (through S.F. Urban Institute) that sends students to teach free dance classes to children in San Francisco's Visitacion Valley and Bayview neighborhoods. Founded 2001 by Katherine Dunham Technique Dance Master Albirda Rose of SFSU’s School of Music and Dance; taught by SFSU’s graduate and undergraduate dance students. Annual concert.

Voices UnBroken
Bronx-based community organization that believes "everyone has a story to tell, and that story is important. " Creative writing workshops in prisons, jails, juvenile detention centers and other alternative settings. Founded in 2001 by Victoria Sammartino.

Why the Arts Matter in Education: or Just What Do Children Learn When They Create an Opera?
Study of school-based elementary opera program. Found that students in the opera setting participate more substantively in group interactions than students in alternative settings. This collaborative work leads to more effective problem solving. Uses both qualitative and quantitative data. By Dennie Palmer Wolf (In Champions of Change, the Arts Education Partnership and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, 1999).

William James Association
Nonprofit organization that promotes work service in the arts, environment, education and community development. Based in Santa Cruz, Calif. Prison Arts Project and Community Youth Arts Project hire professional visual, literary and performing artists to teach in California state prison facilities and work with disenfranchised and "at-risk" youth in alternative schools and detention facilities in and around Santa Cruz. Fiscal Sponsorship Program provides emerging nonprofit groups and community organizations withgrant-related administrative support, tax-exempt status and fiscal sponsorship. Founded 1973 by Page Smith and Paul Lee; named for American philosopher William James, who was concerned with relationship between philosophical thought and social action.

WondeRoot
Atlanta-based nonprofit arts organization committed to uniting artists and community to inspire positive social change. WonderRoot Community Arts Center provides production facilities, facilitates arts-based service programs, encourages artists to be proactive in engaging their local communities through service work.

Wormfarm Institute
Programs "reintegrating culture and agriculture" at New Erth WormFarm CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in rural Wisconsin, supporting the idea that "sustainability" includes a vibrant creative community. Artist residencies, Wormworks Youth Outreach Program and Renewal Gardens, Artward Bound, Meyer Oak Grove project, Wormcastings Foundry, community murals, exhibitions, concerts.

WriteGirl
Writing workshop for inner-city high-school girls, supported by 40 professional women writers in Los Angeles, Calif. Program of Community Partners.

YA/YA
Young Artists/Young Aspirations, a New-Orleans, La.-based school, community center, gallery and working studio employing commercial-art students�primarily African Americans�from nearby L. E. Rabouin Career Magnet High School. This is a link to a book about the organization.

Yolocalli Youth Museum
Youth initiative of Chicago's Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, established 1997 as an arts-education and career-training program. Year-round free classes (ages 13-21), exhibitions, visiting artists and artist-in-residence programs, time arts events, performances, video screenings, workshops. Partners: Goodman Theatre, Gallery 37, Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Young Artist Explorers
Documentation of community-based project between California artist Jamie Treacy and 12 young artists in Tlacolula, Oaxaca, Mexico, July-October 2006. Three-month free art curriculum and materials, inlcuding exhibition and Web site. With Oaxaca artist Gerardo de la Barerra, Casa de la Cultura of Tlacolula and a student grant from California College of Arts Center for Art and Public Life in Oakland.

Young Chicago Authors
Chicago youth writing organization for teens and practicum site of Columbia College's AYCD graduate program.

Youth Communications
Writing program for urban teens in New York City. Publishes "New Youth Connections," citywide, teen-written magazine with a readership of 200,000 teens and adults; "Foster Care Youth United, bimonthly magazine by and for teens in NYC's foster-care system; and paperback anthologies of articles from the two mags.

Youth Earn & Learn Leadership Program
Pennsylvania community project using public art to connect youth to cultural and natural landscapes where they live, incorporating trail development to reclaim post-industrial landscapes and economies. A collaboration among educators, city officials, civil servants, citizens, students and generous funders. Directed by artist Ann Rosenthal.

Youth Ensemble of Atlanta
Georgia-based African-American youth theater company. Original issue-based musical dramas, professional training, internships, record company, international exchange, scholarships, Youth Empowerment Summer. Founded 1990 by Freddie Hendricks.

Youth Music
U.K.-based organization providing music-making opportunities for young people in all regions of the country, esp. those in social and economic need. Workshops, access, partnerships, instruments programs.

Youth Speaks
National youth poetry, spoken word, and creative writing program based in San Francisco. Calif. Created Teen Poetry Slam, Brave New Voices, Bringing the Noise Reading Series, Living Word Project, writers-in-residence.

Youth Under Construction
Collection of students, teachers and musicians with positive vision of Hip Hop music. Music production, school programs, community collaborations. Founded 1992 by Harmony Garden Entertainment, Royal Oak, Mich. Listen to music online, read lyrics.

Youth Uprising
Nonprofit organization, seeded and supported by Alameda County and the City of Oakland, Calif., with wide range of programs and services that develop youth leadership, including arts, helth/wellness, career and education, social entrepreneurship and community building. Grew out of needs articulated by Oakland youth in 1997 after racial violence at Castlemont High School. 2,500 sq. ft. building, Media Arts Center, Dance Studio Center, Moroccan Soul Living Room, Material Arts Studio, Health Clinic, Career & Education Center, youth-run full-service restaurant & catering business.

Youth in Arts
Organization providing visual- and performing- arts educational experiences and cultural events to San Francisco Bay Area public and private schools. Programs: Artists in Schools, Very Special Arts, Performing Arts Series, Til Dawn teen a cappella group; Italian Street Painting Festival.

Youth in Focus
Award-winning Seattle photography program for youth 13-19 directed by Walter Bodie. Has gallery and darkroom in Columbia city neighborhood with Southeast Youth & Family Services. Web site's "gallery" shows pictures from the programs Cedar River Watershed project.

YouthARTS Development Project
Study of a delinquency-prevention collaboration among federal agencies, national arts organizations and three local arts agencies in Georgia, Oregon and Texas, designed to identify, implement, and refine effective arts-based delinquency prevention programs. Finds that providing youth with new skills, giving them the opportunities to use these skills, and offering them positive feedback and recognition for their hard work can potentially lead to healthier attitudes and positive behaviors. Written by Heather J. Clawson and Kathleen Coolbaugh; published by NEA and U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1995.

YouthReach
Funding initiative of Massachusetts Cultural Council. Promotes integration of substantive out-of-school arts, humanities and science opportunities and youth-development opportunities for young people at particular risk of not making a successful transition from adolescence to young adulthood. Grants intended to foster "meaningful and lasting collaborations among cultural organizations, human service agencies and other organizations that nurture the spirit of creative inquiry in young people" in Massachusetts.

Youtharts.ie
Youth arts portal by the National Youth Council of Ireland: key issues, youth work, overview of 49 organizations, links, resources, jobs.

Zaccho Dance Theatre
Site-specific dance and arts-education company with offices in San Francisco's Bayview/Hunter's Point district and partnerships with neighborhood social-service, educational and community-support institutions. Youth training in aerial dance, performance, community research; Zaccho Youth company of performers ages 11-14; student performances in S.F. theaters, artspaces. Directed by choreographer Joanna Haigood.

viBe Theater Experience
Performing-arts education organization in New York City for girls. Theater, writing and music programs. Apprenticeships, leadership training, mentoring, school partnerships.