The Importance of Fostering Creative Development in Small Community Youth
Diana Garcia
Casa de Arte
Casa de Arte highlights the benefits of offering education that supports creative development in youth from small communities and provides Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico as a case study to illustrate the following question: What is the significance of fostering creative development in youth through the development of creative programs and art centers in small communities?
Research
Youth and early adulthood are important stages in the development of any human’s life. Fostering creative development in youth from small communities is beneficial as it promotes individual finding of identity and autonomy as well as it encourages community participation that demonstrates value and support for a local artistic identity.
Promoting creative development in teenagers and young adults from small communities can help to provide the necessary tools to develop creative skills which could otherwise be dismissed or hard to develop.
There is an existing notion in schools and society that value academic achievement over high creativity in young individuals.1
For this reason, young people may become discouraged in valuing their creativity and pushed to avoid pursuing their artistic interests as a way to successfully earn a living later in life. It has been found that youth participation in creative development programs of their interest can increase their personal motivation as well as their social and personal investment.2
Casa de Arte is inspired by the first hand experience of the need for a space that promotes and supports creative development. Promoting creative development in small towns can prepare the next generations to value artistic expression and to reintegrate it as an intertwined part of their culture.
Moreover, the creation of a place that not only educates but also provides the necessary resources to produce independent projects can expand and potentiate a small town’s creative scene. Rural towns offer a great opportunity for growth and position artistic projects as an encouraging way for civic participation and community colaboration.
1. Thomas, Nancy G., and Laura E. Berk. “Effects of School Environments on the Development of Young Children’s Creativity.” Child Development 52, no. 4 (1981): 1153-162. Accessed February 16, 2021. doi:10.2307/1129501.
2. Larson, Reed W., Marcela Raffaelli, Sandy Guzman, Ida Salusky, Carolyn N. Orson, and Andrea Kenzer. “The Important (but Neglected)
Developmental Value of Roles: Findings from Youth Programs.”
Developmental Psychology 55, no. 5 (05, 2019): 1019-1033.