En Guatemala, un colectivo de jóvenes artistas forma una familia con el cine

"Songs in the Key of Free" is a program in a Pennsylvania prison brings together inmates to play music and write songs that they perform inside, while professional musicians also play the songs in venues outside prison. The program is just a year old and is based on a successful theater program in California that cut recidivism rates and helped decrease prison infractions. The founders of "Songs in the Key of Free" are creating an album of the work, but after that, future funding is unclear.

Museums all over the country are trying to attract diverse audiences. One of those is the Frick museum in New York which has a program called the Ghetto Film School project. Twenty students from the Bronx are selected to attend a weekly discussion-based seminar. At the end, students must write a script. “The winning script is turned into a movie and filmed at the museum.” “People should feel they can go to museums, learn something, and improve their lives in doing so.”

By removing barriers to access, the Accessible Arts Academy empowers visually impaired students to engage with the arts. The three-week program at the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind brings together schools and community youth art organizations to give visually impaired students a chance to explore their interests and connect with members of the arts community. In addition to mentorship from visually impaired artists, students learn to work with specialized hardware and software, imparting confidence and inspiring future musicians and engineers alike.

An initiative in House schools that gives students access to the arts in the classroom has positively affected students' ability to concentrate, write, and even show compassion to one another. The initiative, known as the Houston Arts Access Initiative, encourages schools to provide exposure to dance, music, and visual arts to encourage creative and kind interaction.

Two innovative solutions in Great Britain in education are proving to be highly successful in improving students' performances in math and reading. A school in Edinburgh uses the Daily Mile (spending 15 minutes a day running 6 laps around the school at each student's own pace) as a tool to get students physically fit and intellectually engaged. In Bradford, England, a failing school centered musical education (with a minimum of 3 hours a week in music class) as part of an overhaul of their curriculum, which has been successful in fulfilling students spiritually and strengthening key skills to use elsewhere.

Creative expression builds community and helps promote mental wellbeing. In Johannesburg, South Africa, 94 Colours, part of the Maker’s Valley Partnership, focuses on community wellbeing by empowering youth through its World of Words poetry sessions. With the support of a British Council DICE Collaboration Grant, the arts collective leverages partnerships and encourages resilience among its members.

Reassessing representations creates an opportunity for educational experiences. Instead of simply removing a problematic diorama depicting members of the Lenape tribe and Dutch colonists, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, NY, converted the piece into a learning experience for visitors. Following pressure from groups like Decolonize this Place, the revised diorama now features panels that illuminate and discuss misrepresentations in the piece.

Code/Art trains art teachers in a curriculum that combines art and coding, with the goal of inspiring girls to code. They also offer weekly clubs for elementary and middle school girls, a Future Female Tech Leaders program for high schoolers, and an annual conference to celebrate the girls’ achievements. Teachers who take the training can satisfy continuing education requirements by learning four lessons: an abstract art generator and donut maker game, coding self-portraits using JavaScript, and 3-D modeling. Facilitators are assisted by college-age interns, who are available to help in the classroom.

The Prison Arts Initiative program, jointly run by the Colorado prison system and University of Denver, puts personal expression through visual and performing arts at the heart of the prisons' mission to become less punitive and more rehabilitative. With exhibits like "Chained Voices," featuring paintings by incarcerated people, the program aims to give hope to people by making them feel seen and valued as fully human. Formerly incarcerated artists say they valued not only the personal growth they experienced, but also the knowledge that their art could change public perceptions of the people in prison.

La “memoria histórica” o “memoria liberadora” es una herramienta que está ayudando a sobrevivientes de violencia infligida por el Estado a recuperarse del trauma. Tanto en Colombia —donde han creado un concepto para el uso de la memoria como un instrumento de sanación a nivel nacional— como en Chicago, Estados Unidos —donde la “memoria liberadora” rompe el ciclo de la violencia para prevenir la recurrencia de injusticias—, esta herramienta está ofreciendo una especie de justicia de transición, para sanar y salir adelante.