In every studio, rehearsal room, and youth arts workshop, young people are building far more than artwork or performances, they’re developing real employable skills that shape their futures. Vital Arts, a national research project funded by the Australian Research Council, set out to prove exactly that.
What is Vital Arts?
Vital Arts is a national research project building pathways to education, employment and community futures. Over five years of collaboration, testing and innovation, the project brought together researchers from RMIT University, Deakin University and the National University of Singapore, working closely with Creative Australia and partners across the youth arts sector to deliver something powerful: digital micro‑credentials that formally recognise the skills young people gain through creative practice.
“Youth arts programs don’t just build artistic talent, they grow the skills young people need to thrive in a fast-changing and AI-driven world.”
VITAL ARTS
Vital Arts focuses on four key competencies and five character qualities, skills identified by the World Health Organisation and UNESCO as essential 21st‑century capabilities. These include collaboration, communication, critical thinking, creativity and more. They’re the skills that employers consistently say they value, and the skills young people build naturally through arts practice.
Vital Arts is a not for profit business launched out of Australian Research Council industry partnership funding. Their co-funders include The Push Inc., ATYP, Creative Australia, CMY, Carclew, Corrugated Iorn, and Back to Back Theatre.
Introducing the Vital Arts Podcast – Episode 1
The Vital Arts podcast dives deeper into the project’s findings, tools and stories. In Episode 1, Anna and Denise unpacks the three micro‑credentials developed through the research and explains how they recognise the transferable skills young people learn through creative work.
Listeners will hear how:
- The badges were designed and tested
- Youth arts organisations can embed them into existing programs
- Young people can use them as real, portable evidence of their achievements
Whether a young person is producing a show, staging a concert, running a workshop or collaborating on a creative project, Vital Arts provides a framework to formally recognise the skills they’re already demonstrating. Find out more on the Vital Arts Website.
Click THIS LINK to hear the podcast!