Abstract
The “arts” encompasses a wide range of artistic disciplines, activities, and events, which makes the arts challenging to describe (Harsell, 2013). The arts may include anything from professional opera and ballet to the latest blockbuster movie and a child’s crayon drawing on the refrigerator. Nevertheless, access to the arts is an important component of a thriving community (Harsell, 2013). The American Alliance for Theatre & Education (2016) found that arts programs like drama, music, dance, and fine arts help children in many ways. Most notably, they found youth who participate in the arts reap educational benefits including improved grades and higher SAT scores (American Alliance for Theatre & Education, 2016). Other studies (Merz, 2014) suggest benefits may go even further by assisting with improvements in soft skills like confidence, communication, patience, and leadership. However, many of these studies suggest the advantages children gain are short-lived. Research regarding achievements having any sustainable influence is limited fueling doubt among skeptics (Fredericks & Eccles, 2008) who suggest other factors like higher quality schools, or like-minded, dedicated peers also influence positive improvements. This thinking allows some to devalue the benefits arts programs provide giving education leaders the justification they need to reduce or eliminate arts programs in favor of more academic interventions (Gaztambide-Fernández, Nicholls, & Arráiz-Matute, 2016). When this occurs, children in disenfranchised communities lose access to the arts along with the benefits they provide. Using a transformative framework and critical race theory, this phenomenological Dissertation in Practice study presents a review of the literature and highlights the study, which sought to discover if participation in youth arts programs provides sustainable benefits for adolescents and teens as they grow into adulthood.|Keywords: phenomenological research, narrative, transformative framework, critical race theory, youth arts programs, soft skills, community-based programs, afterschool programs, benefits of arts programs, arts and education, arts impact on youth development