Young people are calling for a different future. They are reimagining what opportunity looks like.
In a time marked by rapid labor market shifts and overlapping crises — from mental health, climate change, racial injustice, to widening inequality — the rising generation is redefining what opportunity means. They are seeking not only economic mobility, but also belonging, meaning, wellbeing, and purpose. To respond to this moment, the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions (AIFCS), through its flagship program, the Opportunity Youth Forum & Fund (OYF), is partnering with the Trombone Shorty Foundation and national leaders in the creative industries to scale Creative Youth Development (CYD) pathways across the United States and beyond.
Together, we are building a movement that reimagines workforce development, centers young people’s creativity, and transforms systems to work better for every young person across our country.
What Is Creative Youth Development (CYD)?
Creative Youth Development integrates arts, culture, and workforce pathways to support young people build skills, earn credentials, strengthen identity, and access economic opportunity through creative expression.
CYD is more than arts education. It is a pathway strategy that:
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Connects young people to viable careers in music, media, design, performance, production, and related industries
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Builds technical, entrepreneurial, and social-emotional skills
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Preserves and elevates cultural traditions
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Supports mental health, belonging, and identity formation
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Creates industry-recognized credentials, apprenticeships, and pre-apprenticeships
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Demonstrates real labor market payoff
At its best, CYD aligns community-based organizations, schools, workforce systems, postsecondary institutions, festivals, and creative industries to create a full ecosystem of opportunity. Within this ecosystem, young people are not merely participants — they are co-creators, cultural leaders, and architects shaping new career paradigms.
Our Strategy
We are documenting, codifying, and elevating best-in-class Creative Youth Development models to accelerate adoption, deepen impact, and scale pathways nationwide.
This includes:
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Playbooks, “how-to” guides, and implementation frameworks
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A landscape of leading CYD organizations nationwide
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A grassroots learning community of high-impact practitioners
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Industry-recognized credentialing and apprenticeship models
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Business case tools for institutions, systems leaders, and festivals
These tools will be co-created with practitioners, young artists, and industry leaders to ensure quality, equity, and fidelity to best practice.
Scaling Ecosystems in Community
We will partner with a select group of communities with strong creative economies to scale whole-ecosystem CYD approaches.
Building on OYF’s proven place-based systems change model, we will:
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Invest in backbone organizations
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Align education, workforce, arts, and public systems
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Support cross-sector collaboration
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Document transferable lessons for national replication
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Initial communities include New Orleans and other cities with vibrant cultural economies, with additional locations to be identified.
New Orleans will serve as a proof point, in partnership with the Trombone Shorty Foundation and local leaders.
A Call to Action
This initiative represents a bold reimagining of workforce development and creative career pathways. We are building a national and global network of practitioners, funders, artists, systems leaders, and young creatives committed to:
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Scaling high-quality Creative Youth Development pathways
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Transforming public systems and investment strategies
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Elevating narratives that center youth voice and cultural leadership
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Creating sustainable career opportunities in the creative economy
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Together, if we invest in creativity as a driver of opportunity, we can keep culture alive while creating real economic mobility — ensuring thousands of young people can create, contribute, and thrive.