Australian youth justice systems are in urgent need of innovative programs to reduce the demand on custodial supervision and enhance community safety. Entrenched inequity, high rates of reoffending, and acute concerns for children’s wellbeing highlight the imperative for a pro-active approach that prioritises diversion and primary prevention to keep young people out of detention centres and support them through adolescence to become fulfilled, healthy, and socially-engaged citizens. Music has long been recognised as an important resource for youth identity construction, emotional immersion and regulation, and social connection. Recent studies identify 562 wellbeing benefits of participating in music,1 adding to a mounting evidence base of the social, emotional, physiological, cognitive, cultural, and economic benefits.2 Music has been seen to be particularly powerful in communities marked by systemic inequity3 engendering a strengths-based experience of creative fulfilment, cultural connection, and wellbeing in those who participate. 4 Research has identified that the creative process of participating in music can lead to numerous benefits for justice-involved youth, including a reduction in aggression, self-harm, and violence, and the support of self-esteem, self-confidence, self-efficacy, and promotion of pro-social coping skills, self-regulation, and empathy. 8 Furthermore, as a distinct form of self-expression that fosters a sense of belonging, music programs are particularly effective in strengthening cultural identity 9 and supporting positive identity-development amongst marginalised social and cultural groups.10 For more than ten years, Big hART has harnessed these potentials of music in their work with young people in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, where the challenges of youth justice are particularly explicit. Fostering youth wellbeing, supporting the creation of positive relationships, connecting to culture and community, music has empowered these youth to lead a creative change in society. This report analyses evidence from 66 major studies to explain Big hART’s impact with young people and their community in Ieramugadu (Roebourne), Western Australia. Together with six Big hART evaluations, young participants’ own voices, and key community stakeholder’s perspectives (including Elders and the WA Police Force), we outline a solid evidence-base of the potentials for music as a primary prevention strategy and support for youth desistance, in order to inform decision-making on youth justice policy and practice.