Flexibility and Fidelity in a Drop-in, Open-Door Art Studio Program - Emily Ustach

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford

Flexibility and Fidelity in a Drop-in, Open-Door Art Studio Program describes New Urban Arts’ open-door afterschool art studio model for high school students in Providence, Rhode Island. It explains how removing attendance barriers helps recruit and retain older youth who must “vote with their feet” amid competing demands. Drawing on end-of-year survey results, it links open-door safety and support to trusting peer relationships, improved artistic skills, confidence, identity expression, and willingness to try new things. It also emphasizes program fidelity in offerings, social interactions, and access.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Program model and welcome

Open-door drop-in access

Impact on high-schoolaged youth

Improved engagement and retention

Survey findings and outcomes

Relationships, confidence, identity expression

Flexibility and Fidelity in a Drop-in, Open-Door Art Studio Program Emily Ustach “Hello, and welcome to New Urban Arts! Let me tell you a little bit about this place. We are an afterschool art studio for high school students. We don’t have any attendance requirements, so you can come when you want, stay as long as you want, and return as often as you want. Would you like a tour?” That is how each young person is greeted on their first visit to the afterschool arts program where I work. Knowing there are competing demands on young people’s time, we immediately remove one barrier to their participation. Open-door, drop-in programming, along with other practices, has allowed us to enroll and retain a large number of high-schoolaged youth. The impact of attending out-of-school time (OST) activities for youth of all ages is widely known and documented (Afterschool Alliance, 2009) . The effects of afterschool programs specifically on high-schoolaged youth include improved school attendance and graduation rates (Afterschool Alliance, 2009; O’Donnell & Kirkner, 2016) . However, these older participants are harder to attract and keep engaged than younger children, who are a captive audience (Afterschool Alliance, 2009; Deschenes, Little, et al. , 2010). Highschool youth can deal with the competing and compelling demands on their time by voting with their feet. For over 20 years, New Urban Arts has successfully attracted and retained high school participants in our community-based arts studio in Providence, Rhode Island. Over the course of my two- EMILY USTACH is deputy director at New Urban Arts in Providence, Rhode Island. Having spent the past 19 years exploring the intersection of formal and informal education, she keeps coming back to afterschool spaces. She participated in the National Afterschool Matters Fellowship, sponsored by the National Institute on Out-ofSchool Time and the National Writing Project, in 2017–2019. year National Afterschool Matters Fellowship, I dove in Our participants complete an end-of-year survey to better understand how the open-door nature of New each spring. Over the past four years, on average: Urban Arts supported young people’s participation • 93 percent of participants reported having built and how that participation, in turn, supported their strong and trusting relationships with peers and development and postsecondary paths. A key finding adults. was that, for an open-door program to feel safe and • 91.5 percent said they had improved as artists. supportive for young people, the providers and other • 96 percent said they had developed a way of creating staff need to be particularly attentive to their own that expresses who they are. consistency in implementing programming. Fidelity • 84 percent had developed a better idea of what they of program offerings, social interactions, and access want to do in the future. allows young people to be flexible • 98 percent said they are open to in how, when, and in what ways trying new things. they engage, allowing them to A key finding was that, for • 94.5 percent said they had depractice and stretch their own an open-door program to veloped more confidence. preersseoanarchl isagencysituate. d Ainlthothueghcontmyext feel safe and supportive for • 94.5 percentand supportsaedid t(hNeyewfeelUrsbafaen of an arts studio, I believe some young people, the Arts, 2018) of our practices can be applied providers and other staff to other open-door and drop- need to be particularly During the school year, in spaces thanumbers but sttrumayggle hwiavthedehigheper attentive to their own instsatfrfuc(tionresiids oentfferedartisbty partmen-ttimorse) engagement. consistency in and volunteers (volunteer artist implementing mentors) . All are artists, both About New Urban Arts programming. emerging and established, who Founded in 1997 by a small apply for mentoring positions group of high school and college and are chosen by curr

FAQs

What is the open-door, drop-in approach used by New Urban Arts?

The program has no attendance requirements, so students can come when they want, stay as long as they want, and return as often as they want.

Why are older high-school participants described as harder to attract and keep engaged?

The document states that older youth face competing and compelling demands on their time and therefore are less of a “captive audience” than younger children.

What outcomes did the end-of-year surveys track?

Surveys reported whether participants built strong, trusting peer and adult relationships, improved as artists, developed ways to express identity through creating, planned future creative directions, and felt more confidence while staying open to new things.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford