The participation and decision making of ‘at risk’ youth in community music projects: an exploration of three case studies

Abstract

In the UK, recent years have witnessed a considerable growth in youth participation activities that seek to involve children and young people in various forms of decision-making. One such form of youth participation to benefit from increased government support since the late 1990s concerns community arts activities, especially those targeting young people considered to be ‘at risk’. While there exists a developing international literature exploring youth participation in community arts activities, to date relatively little attention has been paid to issues surrounding young people's decision-making within participatory arts projects. Through an exploration of three community music projects based in the North of England, this article considers the nature of young people's participation in project-related decision-making before proposing the need for greater attention to this aspect of community music activity, especially in the case of projects which seek to engage with ‘at risk’ youth.