Sharing Power, Imagining Power With Art in Youth Participatory Action Research

The purpose of this article is to provide experience-based recommendations to adult research partners in support of youth integrating art and artistic practices throughout the youth-led YPAR process. Our recommendations come from our various experiences working with youth in a YPAR program hosted by a community-based organization where youth choose their research topics and methods to study issues that impact their lives such as replacing confederate monuments, critique state bans on “divisive concepts,” gender microaggressions, student burnout, and more. In this article, we contextualize our work through a discussion of the organization and YPAR program along with our positionalities. We then detail several, though not all, stages of the YPAR process through vignettes and discussions of what the vignettes showcase about the challenges of using arts-based methods and navigating power dynamics as adults supporting youth-led YPAR. We conclude with recommendations for specific stages of the YPAR process.