Leap Arts in Education

Leap Imagination in Learning was founded in 1979 in response to California’s Proposition 13, which dramatically reduced state funding for education, effectively eliminating the arts from public elementary schools. Each year, the organization works with professional teaching artists to provide high-quality standards-based arts education opportunities in multiple disciplines to K-12 students during the school day. In the 2012-2013 school year alone, Leap artists conducted seventy-five in-school classroom residencies for thirty-two schools, 297 classrooms and 7,425 students across the Bay Area. With support from the Hewlett Foundation, the organization plans to strengthen its professional development program for teaching artists, increase and enhance program staff support at schools, and diversify and grow its funding streams.

Leap Arts in Education provides standards-based arts learning in multiple disciplines. The organization’s residency programs place professional teaching artists in 27 Bay Area elementary schools to enhance the classroom curriculum through creative experiences. Leap’s artist-educators are professional performers, musicians, dancers, and visual artists. In academic year 2018/2019, it served 8,100 mostly low-income K-8 students in 27 schools. Leap conducts rigorous evaluations and provides professional development for its teaching artists.