ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on an international research project, Playing for Life, which was centrally concerned with co-researching, documenting and analyzing ways in which young people, frequently deemed 'marginalized' or 'at risk', engaged in music and arts-related activities as means of agency and as a way of negotiating their marginalization. It focuses on the broader two research strands which are analyzed against the background of developing 'enterprise culture'. The chapter discusses, first, brief macro view of youth creative and cultural enterprise activities and some policy responses that aim to unlock marginalized youths' creative potential, particularly in relation to music and arts-related practices and second, a micro view of two of Playing for Life's community-based organizations (CBO's) responses to this creative economy push. It proposes that CBOs are much more than designated creative and cultural 'safe space' for youth; they are increasingly viewed by policy makers, youth workers and so forth, and often by marginalized youth themselves, as pathways to employment.
