Art Education Program Analysis - School of Architecture and Allied ...

Art Education Program Analysis
New Urban Arts, Providence, RI
Sarah Brothers
University of Oregon
Arts Learning Policy
Lori Hager
April 24, 2010

New Urban Arts is a nationally recognized non‐profit community‐based
organization located in Providence, Rhode Island, serving high school students and
emerging artists. Founded in 1997, they provide studio, exhibition space, and
mentoring for young artists who explore the visual, performing, and literary arts
through year long free out‐of‐school programs.
New Urban Arts has been recognized as one of the fifty premiere arts and
youth development programs in the country for the past five years. They have won
local, state, and national awards for their work, including: the Jobez Gorham Award
by the Arts and Business Council of Rhode Island, Champion in Action by Citizens
Bank, the state’s best non‐profit in 2003 by Providence Phoenix, the Daedelus
Award by Providence Waterfire, and the founding Executive Director, Tyler
Denmead, was selected as the state’s best role model by Rhode Island Monthly. In
2009, New Urban Arts was awarded the Coming Up Taller award by the President's
Committee on the Arts and the Humanities ‐ the nation’s highest honor for the field
of out‐of‐school time arts and humanities programs
(http://www.newurbanarts.org).
In this paper, I will discuss the characteristics of effective community‐based
youth arts organizations as identified in various research reports, and connect them
with the New Urban Arts practices according to the following criteria:
organizational structure, educational programs, theories of learning, planning and
implementation process, teacher support/professional development, partners,
resources and sustainability, and assessment and outcomes.
Mission:
New Urban Arts’ mission is ‘to build a vital community that empowers young
people to develop a creative practice they can sustain throughout their lives’
(http://www.newurbanarts.org).
Population Served:
New Urban Arts has over 300 high school students register throughout the
school year, which begins in September. Most youth learn are referred through

friends, but others are referred through guidance counselors, teachers, social
workers, and parents. As a result of efforts to recruit underrepresented populations,
students served are 28% are African‐American, 28% Latino, 22% Caucasian, 14%
Southeast Asian, 3% Caribbean, and 5% bi‐racial. Their students equally represent
ages between 14 and 18. Students come from 13 different schools in Providence,
thought the majority come from the two neighboring high schools.
In the Providence public school system, over 40% of students live in poverty. Only
24% of Providence residents age 25 and over have earned a bachelor’s degree or
higher, and 68% of families in Providence have an income below $50,000. Only one
public high school in the city has an average combined SAT score above 825
(http://www.newurbanarts.org).
Organizational Structure:
The organization is comprised of an executive director, program director,
operations manager, development associate, studio manager, twenty‐one artist
mentors, and two mentoring fellows. All of the staff are artists themselves, yet also
have substantial working experience in education, youth development, and non‐
profit management. All of the artist mentors are emerging artists, most of whom are
current students or graduates of Rhode Island School of Design. There are eighteen
members on the board (not counting the youth advisory members), and their
experience ranges from professional artists, to local educators from Brown
University, politicians, and business leaders.
Education Programs:
There have been numerous studies done to determine the essential elements
of successful youth arts programs. Key findings in Milbrey McLaughlin’s Community
Counts, Adelma Roach’s Creating Cultural Policies With and For Young People, and in
reports like Qualities of Quality and the Americans for the Arts Youth Toolkit all
seem to be in unison, highlighting the same core types of programs and experiences
for youth. All agree that successful programs provide a safe place for their youth

and recognize that art is a vehicle that can be used to engage them and increase
their self‐esteem. They say that the delivery of the program is a collaborative effort
among the artist, social service provider, teacher, agency staff, youth, and family.
They emphasize dynamic teaching tactics such as hands‐on learning, apprentice
relationships, and the use of technology as well as providing youth with
opportunities to succeed and take on leadership roles. They also state that programs
should lead to a public performance or exhibition in an effort to build participants’
self‐esteem through public recognition. Additionally, programs are designed with
evaluation systems built in from the beginning to measure their intended outcomes.
In A Report on Community­Based Youth Organizations, Heath, Soep, and Roach
(1998) state that effective youth arts organizations engage across the spectrum,
including visual, movement, music, drama, and media, and emphasize the
importance of community partnerships and events. McLaughlin puts it simply in
Community Counts. She says the best programs are youth, knowledge, and
assessment centered.
New Urban Arts programming exemplifies these practices with their six core
components that provide education and professional development for youth and for
adult artist mentors. These programs are:
1. Their Youth Mentorship Program partners Artist Mentors with small
groups of high school students for an entire year. They foster risk‐taking
and self‐discovery through community building and creative arts projects
designed collaboratively by both Artist Mentors and youth.
2. Their Artist Mentor Professional Development Program trains and
supports their Artist Mentors each year. Topics include: youth
development, community arts practice, nonprofit management and
community‐building.
3. Their Studio Team Advisory Board (STAB) is a collective of students
and alumni who meet regularly and work to cultivate New Urban Arts as
a youth‐driven studio. They advocate for youth voice; advise the staff and
board of directors; represent the organization to community leaders and
supporters; assist in the recruitment and orientation of new students;
annually interview and selecting artist mentors; organize exhibits, events,
publications and arts workshops for the public.
4. Their Summer Art Inquiry is a thematic‐based arts inquiry program in
which artists, scholars and high school students spend the summer
exploring a common theme from a from a multi‐disciplinary standpoint
including research, art‐making, creative writing and personal inquiry.

The program culminates in student‐led public workshops and an
exhibition. Students receive stipends for their participation and acquire
in‐depth thematic knowledge and job‐readiness skills.
5. Their Arts Mentoring Fellowship supports two established artists and
educators for an entire year. Fellows publicly share knowledge, ideas and
artwork about community arts practice and convene public conversations
on sustaining lifelong creative practice. In the tradition of collegiate
professors, Fellows attend regular studio hours each week for artist
mentors to seek immediate feedback through direct, one‐on‐one
consultation, supporting the professional development of Artist Mentors.
6. New Urban Arts also provides the opportunity for students to exhibit,
perform, and publish throughout the year. New Urban Arts has an
annual fashion show in which students model clothing designed and
sewn by other students, poetry readings at two art openings, two student
art exhibits, a student‐produced zine publication that features their
artwork, and an annual compilation of student poetry. Gallery exhibitions
incorporate wall text to share artist statements, program impact, and
reflection.
Theories of Learning (Impact):
New Urban Arts practice is guided by the following values: connection, voice,
risk, inclusion, and leadership. These are the core themes discussed in A Report on
Community­Based Youth Organizations, by Heath, Soep, and Roach (1998). New
Urban Arts believes that everyone needs a mentor – someone to trust, to share
honesty with, and enable us to be accountable to ourselves. That everyone needs a
safe space to be themselves, to have their own ideas and vision. They see the arts as
a way to help connect individuals. They believe in diverse voice where individuals
can learn from one another, and in including everyone. They believe that risk and
challenge are necessary for growth. And they are committed to providing
opportunities for leadership roles.
Planning and Implementation Process:
In the Americans for the Arts Youth Toolkit, it is suggested that when planning a
program, staff must clearly define the goals and intended outcomes, and monitor,
document, and evaluate the program implementation and service‐delivery process,
as well as the impact. They also say that there are five basic steps in developing a
planning model:

1. Identify the conditions, or needs to address and write a problem statement
about them.
2. State what is intended to change, in the long run, about those conditions.
These long‐term changes will be the expected impacts of the program.
3. Describe how to achieve these long‐term changes and describe the program
activities to be implemented. (Selection of a specific program approach
should be based on research, experience, and/or sound theory.)
4. Specify what short‐term changes, or immediate and intermediate outcomes,
will occur as a result of program activities and how they will ultimately lead
to the long‐term impacts identified.
5. Review the results of the previous steps.
New Urban Arts Bases its programming the premise of the following questions,
continuously reflecting on their practices and seeking to improve their performance
and impact:
• What resources, skills, and opportunities do young people need today so that
they will make space throughout their lives for creative thought and
expression?
• What is an ideal level of participation for students to work towards this goal?
• How diverse is our student body and is this diversity reflected throughout
various participation levels?
• How can artist mentors become more effective in engaging students in
learning and deepening their artistic practice?
• To what extent is New Urban Arts an inclusive environment that encourages
students to work toward our learning outcomes?
• In what ways do students develop self‐initiative through participation in our
program?
• In what ways do students strengthen their ability to build trusting and caring
relationships with others?
• In what ways do students deepen their creative practice through
participation in our program?
• In what ways do students deepen their creative practice through
participation in our program? (http://www.newurbanarts.org).
Teacher Supports/Professional Development:
According to Americans for the Arts Youth Toolkit, all those that work with youth
should be providing with training in team building, communication skills,
organization skills, effective methods for working with youth from specific
populations, behavior management, and curriculum development. Trainings should
be done in groups so that staff and mentors can learn from one‐another and get to

know each other’s perspectives, successes and failures, and ways of working.
Training should be implemented ongoing throughout the season.
As I mentioned earlier, New Urban Arts provides Artist Mentor Professional
Development trainings and supports their Artist Mentors each year. Topics for
trainings include: youth development, community arts practice, nonprofit
management and community‐building. New Urban Arts staff lead workshops for
their mentors in monthly meetings, all‐day retreats, weekly small‐group meetings
and one‐to‐one coaching. The program is also supplemented with presentations by
guest artists, educators, and diverse community leaders.
Partners:
In Beyond Enrichment, Remer (1996) describes the seven ‘Cs’ for Creative
Connections as: construction, communication, context, constraints, critique,
commitment, and counselor. She adds an eighth: catalyst, as well.
Although, I was unable to find any information specific to the partnerships
New Urban Arts has developed, it is clear in reviewing their programs that they play
an active role in the community, providing information, resources, trainings and
community development projects on an on‐going basis, and they communicate with
local schools, leaders, and businesses.
Resources and Sustainability:
Aside from being a very successful community arts organization for over 13
years, with local, state, and national recognition, New Urban Arts has great
community support. Due to the creative nature of the city of Providence, Rhode
Island, and the presence of Rhode Island School of Design, the community is an
enormous resource for New Urban Arts. They have no problem finding young,
emerging artists, eager to gain skills in youth development and education to
volunteer as Artist Mentors. There are also several other prestigious schools and
successful businesses near by to support the organization’s efforts. Additionally,
they are located conveniently across the street from two high schools, making youth
recruitment efforts and collaborations easier.

New Urban Arts have a state of the arts gallery space and studio, equip with
cameras, video cameras, a black and white darkroom, a digital media center, silk
screening and other printmaking facilities, resources for fashion design, as well as
materials to support painting, drawing, installation art, and creative writing.
According to Heath, Soep, and Roach, in order to sustain interest of
participants, a level of risk within a safe place is necessary. Risk, being one of the
core values of New Urban Arts, the ever‐evolving programs and maintained interest
by its youth participants has being accomplished.
Assessment and Outcomes:
In order to evaluate their program and determine their impact, New Urban Arts
uses the following measurement/assessment tools:
• Student registration system to measure the diversity of our student body;
• Participation tracking system to measure the duration and frequency of
participation;
• Portfolios and exit interviews for artist mentors to measure our ability to
engage students in learning and deepening their creative practice;
• Portfolios for students to measure the extent to which they deepen their
creative practice;
• Exit interviews for students to measure our ability to build an inclusive,
stimulating learning environment;
• A retroactive post survey for parents to measure our parent engagement
strategies, as well as the impact in their children that they can feel be
attributed to our program;
• A pre and post survey to measure students progress toward our 3 learning
outcomes (self‐initiative, social relationships, creative practice), as well as
the extent to which New Urban Arts builds an inclusive, stimulating
environment, and have effectively trained and supported mentors that
engage them in learning.
• Case studies in which the Program Director draws on information for all
graduating seniors from their portfolios, exit interviews, the creative practice
rubric, and written reflection tools to present the development of students
over a multi‐year period (http://www.newurbanarts.org).
In addition to utilizing measurement tools, New Urban Arts has published
several reports on their findings, including A Sustainable Creative Practice, by the
founder, Tyler Denmead in 2006, and a Poetry Workshop Planning Guide in 2005.

It is clear that New Urban Arts is a model program for providing youth with
opportunities for arts learning, meaningful relationships, and opportunities to build
skills for life. They are committed to sharing their innovative practice, while
remaining open to the challenge of adapting and evolving.

References
Fiske, Edward B. ( Ed.). (?) Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on
Learning.
Heath, S. B., Soep, E., & Roach, A. (1998) Living the Arts Through Language Learning:
A Report on Community‐Based Youth Organizations. The Arts Monographs.
2(7).
McLaughlin, Milbrey. (?) Community Counts. Retrieved from
www.PublicEducation.org
http://www.newurbanarts.org
Remer, Jane. (1996) Beyond Enrichment: Building Effective Arts Partnerships with
Schools and Your Community. New York: American Council for the Arts Books.
Roach, Adelma. (2000). Creating Cultural Policies With and For Young People.
Cultural Policy in the West II conducted at the meeting of the Aspen Institute,
Aspen, Colorado.
Seidel, S., Tishmen, S., Winner, E., Hetland, L., & Palmer, P. (2009) The Qualities of
Quality: Understanding Excellence in Arts Education. Caimbridge: Project Zero,
Harvard Graduate School of Education.
America For the Arts, YouthArts Toolkit. Retrieved from
http://www.americansforthearts.org/youtharts/bestpractices.asp