Youth Creative Agency Toward Art Museum Futurity: Re-imagining Inclusive Practices Through Youth Participatory Action Research

Abstract

ABSTRACT Teen-centric programs have proliferated in art museums across the U.S. and much of Europe, and scores of these programs target young people—and youth of color, specifically—as a way to grow museum audiences and relevance to a diverse public. However, few studies examine how teen-centric programs impact the youth involved and how they make sense of their experiences. In this article, teen and adult co-authors show how they used youth participatory action research as a critical pedagogical and methodological framework to (1) co-create spaces for youth participation and (2) generate youth narratives and research analyses within the context of an art museum teen advisory program in the U.S. The findings and reflections on practice offer critical insights on youth agency and the possibilities and limitations of inclusivity discourses within neoliberal art museums.