At The Lewis Prize for Music, we believe that data is integral towards the push for systemic change in the education of our next generation of youth. Click the hyperlinked images to access some of the key articles, white papers, and toolkits that help guide our team’s work during this time.
The Lewis Prize for Music’s Producing Well-Being Report explores the dynamic interplay between Creative Youth Development (CYD) and Workforce Development. Propelled by purposeful dialogues, peer knowledge exchange, and collaborative efforts, the report explores the transformative impact of music-based CYD programs in enabling youth to discover their voice, refine their artistic skills, and emerge as leaders in the 21st-century workforce.
The Lewis Prize for Music aimed to create a space to learn about the various ways rural music-based CYD took place. This report invites you to learn about the work and journey of organizations in the Appalachian, Black Belt Southern, Borderlands and Indigenous regions.
The Wholistic Homecomings Essay Series reflects on how Creative Youth Development organizations have risen to the immense challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside the gaps they have already strived to fill in response to systemic inequities. These essays were written by The Lewis Prize for Music’s 2021 Accelerator Awardees.
Young people are innovating, imagining, and creating new pathways toward just futures through support from Creative Youth Development (CYD) organizations in communities across the United States. We’re thrilled that over 280 music CYD organizations, youth leaders, and prominent CYD researchers have participated in this research initiative. Read More!
Stanford Social Innovation Review’s White Paper on Transformational Capacity Building by April Nichimura, Roshni Sampath, Vu Le, Anbar Mahar Sheikh,
& Ananda Valenzuela
Guide for Racial Justice & Abolitionist Social and Emotional Learning from The Abolitionist Teaching Network.
"This guide builds from the premise that injustice manifests differently in different schools and communities. Abolitionist Teaching cannot be distilled to a list of “best practices” because it is a way of life. Abolitionist Teachers believe that no Black, Brown, or Indigenous child is disposable. We must embody the spirit of Black Lives Mattering, not just say Black Lives Matter. This guide is an invitation for Abolitionist Teachers to individually and collectively generate critical reflection and action."
Building Community Wealth: The Role of Arts and Culture in Equitable Economic Development, written by Danya Sherman, with contributions by Jamie Hand and Chelsea Bruck. Commissioned by ArtPlace America
“Since time immemorial, communities have been developing creative practices and culturally-specific traditions that are deeply intertwined with the way they produce, manage, exchange, and steward resources. What a society values, how it creates those valuable objects or practices, and who has access to them is indicative of a culture’s core beliefs. While it may be tempting to think of ‘the economy’ as a thing operating outside of anyone’s control, with its own rules and behaviors, we can look no further than our definitions of wealth, who has access to it, and how it is produced to understand who we are. Culture - and the creative practices that make it up, including the arts - has and will always be a critical way to understand an economy and work to shift it.”
Rural Prosperity Through the Arts & Creative Sector prepared by Sally Rood at the NGA Center for Best Practices with generous input and editing from staff identified below from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) and the NGA Center.
The Four Principles of Purpose-Driven Board Leadership
In the face of increasingly pressing systemic inequities, nonprofit boards must change the traditional ways they have worked and instead prioritize an organization's purpose, show respect for the ecosystem in which they operate, commit to equity, and recognize that power must be authorized by the people they're aiming to help.
Philanthropy Needs a New Playbook to Fund Systems Change, an article from The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Written by Manmeet Mehta and Michael Zakaras.
Pocket Change: How Women and Girls of Color Do More with Less - a call to action. Written by Erin Howe and Somjen Frazer for Ms. Foundation for Women - “Are philanthropic practices in alignment with the breadth of advocacy and services that women of color-led organizations actually provide? How can we change our practices to center women and girls of color in our giving and hold ourselves accountable?”