Arts For The Schools

About Us

Arts For The Schools is a bi-state 501 (c)3 non-profit that fundamentally believes that access and exposure to the arts is essential for all. Arts For The Schools fills the gaps in visual and performing arts education for more than 10,000 children at K-12 schools and provides access to artistic excellence for the public. Since 1984, Arts For The Schools has encouraged children and adults to create, perform, learn, lead, understand and discover.

We operate four programs. Two of the programs are for students, the Performing Arts program and the Visual Arts program. We also operate two programs for the public, onSTAGE Live and arTRAIN professional development program. Today Arts For The Schools serves 25 regional schools in California and Nevada and dozens of communities in our service area spanning two states and four counties.

History
Founded in 1984 by Terry Yagura, Arts For The Schools sought to address the decline in arts programming in schools - one of the unintended consequences of the 1978 ratification of California's Proposition 13, which drastically reduced educational funding statewide. As a result, schools in the region now rely on Arts For The Schools to provide arts education programming for over 10,000 regional students each year.