Through processes of displacement, forced migration, and (re)settlement, the voices of children and young people are often silenced, their stories and lived experiences about their own diverse and layered experiences with displacement, migration, and settlement are seldom, if ever, heard. Community music education and creative arts engagement can provide a means to story experiences of displacement, to cultivate feelings of temporary emplacement in new environments, and to reimagine both individual and shared futures. Our paper focuses on examining how music and creative arts can be used as spaces for young people to speak back and share their stories, while also highlighting the urgent need for a global focus on arts-based educational practices that respond to the immediate needs of displaced children and youth. We will explore how musical collaboration, community music-making, and creative arts such as photography, digital media, and storytelling can support young people’s wellbeing, cultural and individual resiliency, and connection during and after displacement, migration, and (re)settlement. In doing so, we situate creative practices not merely as therapeutic interventions, but as transformative, participatory approaches that foster agency, belonging, and hope. By foregrounding youth voices and centering the arts as sites of critical dialogue, we argue that community-based creative engagement offers an indispensable pathway for reimagining education in contexts of displacement and for building sustainable futures across borders.Through applied and community-based research with young people experiencing displacement in diverse settings, the co-presenters will examine how young people use their songs, stories, photos, and voices as a tool of resistance by challenging dominant narratives on trauma, resilience, and integration. We will then explore how young people use their creative and artistic imaginaries to adapt to the complex contexts of their lives. Building social cohesion between and among communities of young people who have experienced displacement is a critical step of emplacement in new geographies. For some, these connections can create opportunities to reclaim to cultural practices as a form of self-authoring; for others, these connections can allow for the exploration or integration of new cultural practices connected to an ever-evolving “here.” We aim to recognize and celebrate the cultural and artistic wealth of communities disproportionately impacted by displacement and to co-create and co-mobilize knowledge and creativity with participants. In this paper we will explore connections between displacement, young people, and creative arts by asking how we, as music education researchers and applied ethnomusicologists, can nurture an ontological need for hope?