In July, as part of the Creative Youth Development National Partnership’s stakeholders’ meeting, Mass Cultural Council took the opportunity to host a cohort of international guests to spark a conversation on how the field of practice looks around the world.
With a varied roster of national and local agencies, educators, artists, and academia from South Korea, Scotland, India, Australia, Norway, and New Zealand, our guests participated actively in the first two days of the national meeting, getting to know their colleagues and their programs but most importantly our young people, their needs, and their capacity.
After the national convening was over, our international cohort met to distill the findings of the previous days. Led by veteran teaching artist Eric Booth, we engaged in an incredibly fertile conversation, in which different models and approaches were presented, all unified by the importance of empowering young people and nurturing creativity as an integral part of our communities. The richness and diversity helped us prove that the work of Creative Youth Development occurs in a myriad ways, and opened up a larger conversation in finding opportunities to better support it.
We are grateful to have connected with these distinguished guests and thank them for their outstanding participation and contribution to this gathering:
- Dr. Yujin Hong and Hyejin Yang, Korean Arts and Education Service
- Joan Parr, Creative Scotland
- Brad Haseman, Queensland University of Technology
- Marit Ulvund, Seanse Center at Volda University College
- Shubhendra Rao, Sangeet4All
- Lee Martelli, Creative New Zealand
- Francis Cummings, Sistema Scotland
- Morten Christiansen, Norwegian Council for Schools of Music and Performing Arts
Mass Cultural Council is committed to continuing these conversations, and in them, we are hoping to bring in as many of our grantees as possible, showcasing them as examples of excellent practice, and always looking for ways to improve our capacity in this exciting field of practice.
