Fostering Resilience Among Youth in Inner City Community Arts Centers: The Case of the Artists Collective

Growing up in an inner city environment can inhibit healthy development and have detrimental consequences for children and adolescents such as increased risks for many social and psychological problems. This article explores the role of community arts centers in fostering resilience among youth livi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Education and urban society 2014-11, Vol.46 (7), p.826-848
Main Authors: Rhodes, Alison M., Schechter, Rachel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescents
African American Students
Art Education
Artists
Arts Centers
At Risk Students
Central Cities
Children & youth
Community Centers
Community Relations
Coping
Cultural Awareness
Cultural Capital
Dance Education
Emotions
Ethnicity
Humanities
Inner city
Interpersonal Competence
Learning
Literature Reviews
Multicultural Education
Resilience
Resilience (Psychology)
Risk Factors
Safety
Self Control
Self Efficacy
Self Esteem
Social capital
Social skills
Students
Teachers
Urban Areas
Urban Education
Urban Youth
Youth
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Summary:Growing up in an inner city environment can inhibit healthy development and have detrimental consequences for children and adolescents such as increased risks for many social and psychological problems. This article explores the role of community arts centers in fostering resilience among youth living in the inner city. A review of the literature of risk factors associated with growing up in an inner city environment provides a rationale for the need for interventions that promote resilience by creating a refuge from the surrounding poverty and violence, and which strengthen youth’s personal and social resources. We examine the case of the Artists Collective, an inner city community arts center in Hartford, Connecticut, and propose that there are three components of community arts centers that contribute to youths’ resilience. First, features of the physical space promote resilience. Second, they are a place where prosocial relationships and social capital contributing to resilient functioning can be formed. Finally, we hypothesize that learning about and participating in the arts fosters resilience through the development of person-level protective factors such as self-efficacy, improved emotional regulation, social skills, coping skills, and ethnic pride.
ISSN:0013-1245
1552-3535
DOI:10.1177/0013124512469816