Exploring the Long-Term Impacts of Out-of-School Arts Participation Among Marginalized Youth

The benefit of participating in Out-of-School Time (OST) arts programs has been widely documented in studies that often reflect impact over short timeframes. Youth arts organisations often bear extraordinary claims about the impact of programs, and the value they hold especially in the lives of those who face difficult social circumstances. This paper reports the findings of a systematic review examining the long-term impacts of participating in arts-based OST programs with a particular focus on the experiences of marginalized youth. It provides a nuanced account of the field from the viewpoint of various research disciplines and develops an understanding of how researchers and/or program evaluators approach the challenges of long-term data collection in the face of time and resource constraint. Our review provides an overview of the way arts participation is measured and the types of subjective impacts that emerge as a result. Consequently, we develop a more comprehensive understanding of what constitutes arts education and learning in contemporary life, and a record of the types of impacts that generate change from a long-term perspective.