CONCLUSION

This conclusion underscores the growing urgency of protecting and expanding arts-based Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) amid political efforts to dismantle public education and suppress critical, justice-oriented learning. As the Trump administration seeks to eliminate so-called “radical” pedagogies, YPAR emerges as a powerful form of creative resistance—one that refuses silence through art, collective inquiry, and youth-led action. Drawing from examples in Puerto Rico and Tucson, Arizona, we illustrate how creativity sustains critical consciousness across moments of crisis and across generations. Arts-based YPAR challenges rigid, assimilationist models of schooling by centering young peoples lived experiences, structural analysis, and imaginative possibilities for change. Even when pushed out of formal institutions, YPAR endures through community spaces, grassroots partnerships, and intergenerational networks. Ultimately, we argue that creative resistance is not merely reactive but generative, offering a way to confront injustice while envisioning more equitable, connected, and hopeful futures led by youth.