Questions not often heard in connection with young people frame this documentary video: How do young people share learning for themselves and their peers in their own communities? How can they extend education beyond the expected institutions of school and family? How can they do so through teaching the arts while also building local social enterprise? Answers come from community organization in two rural communities and two urban neighborhoods. Here young people work as artists, teachers, and builders of local learning environments outside of schools.

These youth and their arts organizations defy the commonplace equation of education with schools only and the public perception of youth as vulnerable, apathetic, and disengaged from productive challenge. They encourage young people to develop multiple talents that place "intelligence" not just in the individual, but also in group collaborative effort and resourcefulness for community benefit. With strategic planning and hard work, young artists leverage their energy, curiosity, and commitment to create classes, portfolios, exhibitions, and performances that educate, entertain, and connect family members, friends, and neighborhood residents. They develop projects that immerse younger children in learning what it takes to carry through ideas from start to finish. They mentor them in activities that call for oral and written skills, thinking and problem-solving, and the concerted efforts necessary to complement artistic vision and imaginative pursuits.

Youth in these rural and urban settings work with adults in ingenious ways to put their gifts and talents into action. A rural secondary school becomes a launching site for students to learn as they contract with students and teachers as "clients" who seek help in creating art for use in classes, school events, and community celebrations. The statewide talent search and development program of the Kentucky Governor's School for the Arts links urban and rural youth to professional artists representing an array of artistic forms and further learning opportunities. The two urban projects show young people flexing their social muscle as they build arts-based learning and business incubators for local communities and create learning environments for children and youth. A drafty warehouse becomes a studio for artists and a creative landscape for young people learning photography, ceramics, oil painting, and other visual arts. An old bagel factory transforms into an incubator for arts-related businesses and home for a theatre and web of classrooms where young people study dance, video editing, music, and drama.

Given here is not the yellow brick road to success and highly acclaimed achievements for either these young people or their organizations. The promises and excitement of start-ups are soon followed by frustrations from funding inadequacies, strains that come from conditions of surrounding communities, and lack of recognition of viability as "serious" artists or as responsible members of "real" places of learning and teaching. The young people face these challenges as they try to keep their artistic ventures and individual dreams alive while remaining connected to their hunger for meaningful risks of learning and teaching. Length: 56 minutes, 40 seconds. [Available also in a 20-minute version centering on social policy and entrepreneurship interests.]

Next: Youth and Community Development