Youth

Participating in the arts enables young people to develop their voice; learn about their own and others’ cultures; and draw upon their innate creativity as a resource for learning, self-expression, and social navigation. Our grantmaking aims to ensure that Bay Area youth, ages 5 to 25, have equitable access to high-quality, sequential, multidisciplinary arts education. This work is realized through two approaches: delivery of arts education programming to youth in the Bay Area, and support for arts education policy and advocacy work by grantees to encourage public investment at the state and local levels.

All Bay Area youth have equitable access to high-quality arts education opportunities.

We focus on two specific areas in our Youth support: Program Delivery and Arts Education Policy and Advocacy. Our Program Delivery grantmaking focuses on organizations whose mission is to provide Bay Area youth with opportunities for high-quality arts education in school, after school, and out of school. We prioritize support for organizations that address inequities in the delivery of arts education, such as those that serve schools with a majority of African American students, high-poverty schools, and rural schools, where arts participation rates are lowest. The Program Delivery substrategy also offers support for creative youth development organizations, which integrate creative expression into programs focused on critical thinking and social awareness. These organizations have proved highly effective at developing young people’s creative skills and agency.

Our Arts Education Policy and Advocacy grantmaking focuses statewide on equitable access to arts education in the public school system, and the disparities in arts education access, participation, and quality for students in low-income communities and communities of color. The substrategy supports grantees that develop research to inform policymakers; act to ensure that schools and school districts comply with existing standards; and educate parents, teachers, school administrators, and policymakers about the benefits of arts education.