The community-based arts environment is

uniquely suited to addressing the needs of

young people in the area of growing emotional intelligence. The arts offer specific
structures, systems, and dynamics that allow for the emergence of the emotional
adolescent self. Leaders in the communitybased arts field must consciously position
their organizations and programs as primary tools in the work of the reclamation
of youth and adolescent emotional life.

ach year the City of San Pilar sponsors the Summer Arts Project for Youth. The program provides opportunities for local youth, ages 13-17, to
participate in the development and performance of
an original theatre piece.

Jason and Gilbert are both participants in the

program this year. They are from different hi}.;h
schools. They also live in two very different parts
of town. During the rst two weeks ot" the program
students are randomly assigned to work groups as
they learn and develop various parts of the theatre
piece. These two have found themselves assigned to
the same work group three times in one week.
Jason was encouraged to participate in the program
because of his strong verbal skills. He has a natural attraction to any public speaking opportunity.
Jason is also great at generating creative ideas and
persuading others to support his efforts.
Gilbert's participation is mandatory, as ordered
by his Probation Officer. His art is most often expressed in "tagging," which led to a misdemeanor
conviction and now probation. He was ordered to
participate in this program.
spring 2oog volume 18, number 1 | 3

On Tuesday, the group is making decisions about

the storyline for the play. Jason is very vocal
throughout the discussionhe seems to he on a
creative roll. Gilbert can be observed as becoming
more and more agitated every time Jason opens his
mouth, but he remains silent. Ultimately the group
agrees to a direction for the storyline that Jason has
been selling.
Suddenly, a major confrontation occurs between
Jason and Gilbert. Gilbert declares that all this is
just a bunch of !@!*! He goes on to say that everyone
is allowing themselves to be "played" by Jason, who
doesn't know how to do !@!*! except run his mouth.
Jason responds with a long list of negative adjectives to describe Gilbert, which include, criminal,
ghetto, no-talent, and dumb. The two are face to
face, nose to nose, with everyone looking on. (Burbie, 20O5,pp. 1-2)

Many adolescents are overwhelmed and under-prepared

when faced with,..emotions.
The above scenario comes from a training program designed to prepare teaching artists to work
with youth in the Will Power to Youth (WPY) program. WPY is a youth development initiative that
nurtures self-respect, promotes mutual respect,
encourages the valuing of differences, increases
literacy skills, and fosters an appreciation for the
arts among young people. Twenty to thirty young
people are employed in each session. The program
blends theatre arts, human relations, academic
development, and workplace training. During the
course of the program, a skilled facilitation team
works to create and maintain a safe place for a diverse group of youth and adults to learn together
and work toward a common goal, the production of
an adaptation of a Shakespeare play. WPY is one of
the many successful community-based youth arts
programs conceived, designed, and directed by professional theatre artists.
In preparing to collaborate artistically with youth,
it is critical for artists to be able to talk confidently
about feelings, as well as to consider the various
emotional settings that might arise in the context
of that collaboration. Further, an adequate understanding of emotional development in youth yields
important information that teaching artists may
use to better understand how adolescents develop
artistically, cognitively, and socially.

The brief overview

of recent research offered below describes
some of the ways that
emotions play a part
in various developmental tasks of the
adolescent. A deeper
understanding of adolescent deve lopment
enables adult artists
to support youth in
the reclaiming of
their own emotional
terrain. Communitybased arts settings
are a natural environment in which to
teach these skills.

Lack of Guidance for Youth

It is near-cliche to observe that adolescents often
struggle with emotions. They, like Jason and Gilbert, encounter expansive feelings staked to their
loyalties, their passions, and their very identities,
perhaps for the first time. And in this sometimes
turbulent context, the great tasks of adolescence
must be attacked. According to Vygotsky (1987), the
task of adolescence is for children to develop the
ability to control their own will, to make decisions
for themselves, and to carry out the activities necessary to make those choices manifest, in order that
they may eventually participate in their lives as full
adults. Adolescence is a unique moment in human
development. It offers an ideal context for an introduction to emotional competency.
Many adolescents are overwhelmed and underprepared when faced with discussing and regulating their own emotions and those of others around
them. The lack of resources and information related
to the successful management of emotions is particularly troubling considering that understanding
one's emotions is central to multiple facets of youth
development, such as art-making, intellectual processing, and the development of deep and meaningful interpersonal relationships.
The youth who are the target participants for most
community-based programs often have few opportunities to systematically build these skills. They are
typically from working-class and poor families who
cannot afford to pay for enrichment activities. While
it is important not to make assumptions about who
those children areand what their individual lives are

4 I reclaiming cbildren and youth www.reclaimingjournaLcom

like, it is equally important to be aware

that they may contend with common
Stressors. For example, they may live in
neighhorhoods with
relatively higher rates
of unemployment,
underemployment,
and crime than the
region at large (Brookings
Institution,
2006). There may be
few community resources to dedicate
to health and recreation. Youth may attend schools that are
struggling if not failing to provide a useful and meaningful education. They may encounter
fewer opportiinities to either produce or consume
art (Woodworth et al., 2007). With Stressors on all
iiiembers of their communities, youth may not find
many adults interested in or able to offer support toward their emotional growth. Given these circumstances, it becomes even more critical to incorporate
the teaching of emotional competency into a youth
program that targets these populations.
Although there has been some recent interest in the
development of emotional intelligence (Salovey
& Mayer, 1990; Goleman, 1996), there has yet to
emerge any serious movement to incorporate those
values and principles into the core curriculum in
public schools or in other settings where youth development is a focus (e.g., youth sports, faith communities, or community-based agencies). Youth in
all settings are most commonly left to their own
devices and personal histories for cues in their emotional development.
In spite of the apparent scarcity of training in
emotional intelligence, its importance is rarely
disputed. Emotional intelligence is defined by Salovey and Mayer (1990) as "the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's
own and others'feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to
guide one's thinking and actions" (p. 188). These
abilities support key processes in building strong
interpersonal relationships (Eisenberg, 2000), of
art-making in theatre (Wolf, Edmiston, & Enciso,
1997; Vygotsky, 1971), and in cognitive development (Eisner, 2002; Salovey & Mayer, 1990; Zull,

2002). Given that these and other aspects of youth

development are supported by skilled emotional
competence, high-quality community-based arts
curricula must incorporate this instruction.

Emotions in Productive Activity

While it may seem unusual to some to include the
term emotion in discussions of various sorts of intellectual activity, substituting the terms mood or
motivation makes the conversations more familiar.
Those who study human endeavor of all sorts have
long recognized the role that mood and motivation
play in the individual's capacity to marshal his or
her personal resources toward attainment ot a goal.
Art-Making. Vygotsky (1971), and Wolf and colleagues (1997) have addressed the unique role of
emotion in the theatre arts. Wolf" et al. examine
imagination in dramatic production and note that
"rather than separate intellect from affect, drama,
like life, weaves the two together" (p. 496). Vygotsky
nurtured a lifelong interest in the theatre, specifically in Stanislavski (1936), the father of modern acting technique, and he expended considerable effort
toward understanding the relationships between
emotion and the theatre arts. In his dissertation,
Vygotsky (1971) draws a connection between imagination and emotion in this elementary example:
If at night we mistake an overcoat hanging in our
room for a person, our error is obvious, the experience is false and devoid of real content. But
the feeling offear experienced at the instanl the
coat was sighted is very real indeed. This means
that...all our fantastic experiences take place on
a completely real emotional has is.... Emotion and
imagination are not two separate processes; on the
contrary, they are the same process, (p. 203)

In this instance, he appreciates the full complexity

of emotions in life and art. Vygotsky further distinguishes emotions, which are always unclear, from
sensations, which can be known clearly. The inherent ambiguity of emotions makes them a source of
cteative potential.
Like Stanislavski, Vygotsky described texts as incomplete and merely suggestive of the thought and
emotion that lie beneath (Stanislavski, 1936). Accordingly, Wolf et al. (1997) state that actors "need
not only deliver lines on stage, but also create hypothetical affective worlds of their characters off stage
by negotiating among actors, for the 'full person'
has to interact with other characters/players" (p.
496). Because human emotion is the stuff of artistic

spring 2009 volume 18, number 1 | 5

drama, emotional knowledge and skills relating to

the self and to others are vital to the professional development of the actor, the playwright, theatrical
designers, and directors. These theatre artists develop a common vocabulary related to key concepts introduced by Stanislavski such as motivation, want,
need, goal, objective, conflict, and tactic.
As theatre artists explore these concepts in relationship to the characters in a play, they use a vocabulary
of emotion. For example, a director may ask an actor to consider Juliet's motivation in her monologue
that begins "Gallop apace you fiery footed steeds, towards Phoebus' lodging" in Shakespeare'somt'o and
Juliet (Act III, Scene 1!). What does she want? What is
her need? The answers to all these questions involve
feeling words. Juliet is motivated to speak because
she wants to bring on the night so that Romeo can
to come to her. She wants Romeo, love, connection,
sexual release, passion, friendship, joy, and bliss.
The conflict is that, because their love is forbidden,
while it is day she cannot see her love. The conflict
causes her to feel tension, desire, anticipation, hope,
fear, anger, frustration, and impatience. Juliet uses
various tactics as she talks. She commands, pleads,
cajoles, seduces, threatens, and rages.
Community-based arts programs that include highstandards of theatre practice introduce this kind
of emotional vocabulary with the safe distance of
scenes and characters in a play. This vocabulary is
then transferable to the more personal dynamics
that take place in the process of expressing one's
own emotions and developing deep and meaningful interpersonal relationships.
Cognitive Development. Emotional intelligence
has been observed as it interacts with the other intelligences in the development of cognition (Gardner,
1983; Zull, 2002). In examining the role of emotions
in intellectual development, Salovey and Mayer
{r99o) assert that moods and emotionsboth "bad"
and "good" onesmay i) increase flexibility in future
planning and problem solving, 2) support inventive
thinking, 3) direct or re-direct attention, and 4) motivate and sustain persistence at challenging tasks. In
a similar vein, Zull describes how intellectual activities such as reasoning and memory are powerfully
impacted by emotions in an ongoing way:
This influence of feelings runs the entire gamut of
possibilities. Feelings can help us remember and
make us forget. They can help us recall important
events that did happen, hut they can also trigger
false memories. They are essential for reasoning,
and they can hinder reasoning, (pp. 86-87)

When youth workers and teaching artists are aware

of and appreciate the role that emotions play in cognitive development, they are enlisted in a commitment to increase emotional knowledge and skills.
Developing Relationships. The role emotions
play is perhaps most easily seen in the human work
of developing relationships. The ability to build
healthy relationships with peers and adults is crucial to the overall health and well being of children,
adolescents, and adults.
The social and the individual are intertwined
in life. Each person is a player in an unfolding
and somewhat improvised drama, the meaning of which derives from interactions with the
other players. On the stage of life, each of us is
linked through the actions of our friends, so that
the quality of our shared history extends beyond
the scenes in which they took a leading part. The
relationships with friends constitute one of the
richest and most varied domains of the human
experience. (Cotterell, 2007. p. 93)

Developing long-term, meaningful relationships

requires high levels of knowledge and skills related
to emotional intelligence. In her research on emotion and its regulation, Eisenberg (2000) has found
that adolescents who can regulate their emotions,
or recognize, pay attention to, and control their
emotions and stress, also exhibit more prosocial behavior, more social competence, and better moral
judgment.
Successful youth development programming creates environments where young people are safe to
make strong connections with each other and with
adults. Cotterell (2007) asserts:
Effective vouth work is marked hy a quality of
relating to young people that is "like a friendyet
not like a friend." This phrase underlines that
honesty, trust, acceptance, and reciprocity are
important in the worker's relations with young
people, just as in friendship. However, attentiveness to adolescent concerns is tempered by the
realization by both parties that there is a boundary that separates the youth worker from the
youth, to protect youth from unnecessary intrusion by adults into their lives, (p. 247)

Community-based arts programs that mindfully

invest in helping youth to develop positive relationships with one another and with adults are
conscious of the role that emotional intelligence
plays in the growth of those relationships.

6 I reclaiming children and youth www.reclaimingjournal.com

ARTS CURRICULUM ESSENTIALS

Since the development of emotional intelligence is critical to youthin art-making, cognition, and developing relationshipsand
because youth may not receive instruction in
emotional competency elsewhere, it needs to
be a central part of the explicit curriculum in
any youth-serving environment. Communitybased arts settings are a natural fit for this kind
of learning. Specifically, a high-quality curriculum should help youth to develop skills in:

The accurate perception of feelings in

themselves and others;
Sensitive and appropriate expression of
those feelings;

References
Brookings Institution. (2006). Kids in the city: Indicators of
child well-being in large cities ofthe 2004 American Community Survey. Washington, DC: Author.
Burbie, D. (2005). Youth Arts Professionals Institute Conflict
Resolution Training. Pasadena, CA: The ASPII Group.
Cotterell, J. (2007). Social networks in youth and adolescence.
London: Routledge.
Elsenberg, N. (2000). Emotion, regulation, and metal development. Annual Review of Psychology, 5/, 665-697.
Eisner, E. (2002). The iirts and the creation ofthe mind. New
Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Gaidner.H. (igSilFranies of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

Empathie response to the feelings of others;

and

Goleman, D. (1996). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter

more than IQ. London: Bloomsbury.

Appropriate and healthy containment and

regulation of feelings.

Salovey, P., St Mayer, J. D. {1990). Emotional intelligence.

Imagination, Cognition and Personality, p, 185-211.

Mindful attention to the development of these

skills is uniquely suited to the community-based
arts setting. It is time for the leaders of the community-based arts field to claim their unique place in
the lives of young people by acknowledging and
working to prove the impact the arts can have on
the development of emotional intelligence.

ill Agiiilar, PhD, is assistant professor, Secondary ''einher Prepration at California State University
Dom'm^iiez Hills in Carson, California. Her interests
include adolescent literacy, arts and learning, adolescent development, hitintin relations, and social justice.
She can be reached by email: jaguilar@csudh.edu
Utini Betlau, MFA, is the Head of Theatre for Young
Audiences and the Director ofthe Theatre, Youth, Media, Education Arts Center at San Diego State University, San Diego, California. She founded Will Power to
Youth, a nationally recognized, model arts-education
program for Shakespeare Festival/LA. She can be contacted hy email: dbedau@mail.sdsu.edu

Stanislavski, C. (1936). An actor prepares. New York: Routledge.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1Q71). The psychology of art. Boston, MA:
Mil' Ptess, http://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/
works/1925/index.htm
Vygotsky, L. S. (1987). The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky: Volume I: Problems of general psychology, including the volume
Thinking and Speech. (R. W. Relber fi A. S. Carton, Eds.).
New York: Plenum Press.
Wolf, S., Edmiston, li., ik Knciso, P. (1997). Drama worlds:
Places of the heatt, head, voice, and hand in dramatic
interpretation. InJ. Flood, S. B. Heath, & D. Lapp (I-ds.),
Handbook of Research on Teaching Literacy through the
Communicative and Visual Arts (pp. 492-505). New York:
Simon & Schuster/MacMillan.
Woodworth, K. R., Gallagher, H. A., Guha, R., Campbell, A.
Z., Lopez-Torkos, A. M. & Kim, I). (2007). An unfinished
canvas: Arts education in California: Taking stock of policies and practices. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.
Zull, J. F. (2002). The art of changing tfte brain: Ewkhing the
practice of teaching by exploring the biology of earning.
Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing.

Chris Anthony, MFA, is associate artistic director

of Shakespeare Festival/LA in Los Angeles, California.
Her interests include the aesthetics ofcommunity-based
theatre, the aesthetics of youth arts programs, and arts
integration m the classroom. She can be reached by
email: chris@shakespearefestivalla.org

Spring 2009 volume 18, number 1 | 7