In the face of the unprecedented: creative youth development guides organizations to adapt, support, and thrive

Abstract This article examines how important an explicit mission and values framework can be for community-based arts education organizations in times of crises. This argument draws on interview data from early and later points in the COVID-19 pandemic with three community-based arts organizations whose work is deeply rooted in creative youth development (CYD) principles: Enriching Lives through Music in San Rafael, CA, Elevated Thought in Lawrence, MA, and Austin Sound Waves in Austin, TX. While the organizations represent different geographies, art forms, and approaches, each has depended on CYD’s core set of values to guide its rapidly evolving efforts during the first six months of the pandemic. Moreover, as each organization has listened and worked with young people in new ways, that work expanded and deepened the original CYD framework. But even as these organizations prevail, all three cases also reveal the fundamental vulnerability of community-based arts education and the kinds of recognition and civic supports needed to ensure that such work thrives.