Artistic citizenship is a growing focus in music education literature (Akuno & Westvall, 2024; Elliott, Silverman, & Bowman, 2016; García-Cuesta, 2024). However, much work remains to be done to understand the specific ways in which music education can be designed to foster artistic citizenship. Additionally, collaborative composition has emerged as an area of interest in recent years (Barrett, Creech & Zhukov, 2021). This presentation explores how creative composition in a large music ensemble context might support the development of artistic citizenship in university students. In the examined project, students learned about and reflected on their ideas about a social issue relevant in their community. They then worked together to express their ideas musically through the development of an original, collaboratively developed composition. During the process. students had to listen to differing views of others, decide collectively on how to represent their ideas, and navigate challenges as a group. Collective composition can allow participants to draw on diverse musical experiences and lived experiences. In the case of this project, a variety of musical cultural traditions and diverse viewpoints were represented. Throughout the process, students exercised essential civic skills related to communication, leadership, and problem-solving. The project culminated in students sharing their work and their creative process with their community, advocating for the future they want. Implications for music education will be discussed, which include other ways collaborative composition might be leveraged for civic outcomes, key questions that emerged, and opportunities for future research.