Using and abusing the arts with 'at-risk' youth

Arts programmes are frequently provided for youth who are deemed unfortunate or unruly. Globally, arts programmes for at-risk youth have been widely recognised as beneficial; however, there has been a lack of criticality on how arts experiences can have an adverse impact. Research into a UK-based programme—the Arts Award—is presented to highlight the different, and lower quality, offer for at-risk youth. Multi-sited ethnography captured the experiences of participants accessing the programme through five diverse youth settings. My research demonstrated that often the most disadvantaged young people receive the weakest arts programmes, that are defcit oriented, mechanistic and instrumentalised. This article offers a unique perspective on the ways in which the arts can fail at-risk youth