California Alliance for Arts Education

The California Alliance for Arts Education (CAAE) promotes, supports and advocates for visual and performing arts education for preschool through post-secondary students in California schools. It is the only statewide organization that brings together all primary constituencies for arts education, annually serving over 100,000 artists, arts organizations, K-12 teachers, state and local education departments, and parents and PTAs. It is an acknowledged key leader in the arts education advocacy field and a powerful ally in statewide efforts to increase arts education in the public school system. With the imminent departure of its Executive Director, this grant would provide support during this critical transition, with a focus on building the organization’s capacity for short and long term fund development. (New, $20,000/1; 52% of project budget)

The California Alliance for Arts Education promotes, supports, and advocates for visual and performing arts education for preschool through post-secondary students in California schools. It is the only statewide organization that brings together all primary constituencies for arts education, annually serving more than 100,000 artists, arts organizations, K-12 teachers, state and local education departments, and parents and PTAs. The Alliance is a cornerstone grantee of the Hewlett Foundation’s arts education efforts, an acknowledged leader in the arts education advocacy field, and a powerful ally in statewide efforts to increase arts education in the public school system. The organization has undergone a major leadership change in the past year with policy director Joe Landon ascending to the executive director position. Renewed support to the Alliance would allow it to continue building on past successes, specifically by sustaining policy advocacy work at the state level and expanding its twenty-one Local Advocacy Networks by ten coalitions each year in order to unite local leadership groups in support of arts education.