WhyArts, Inc.

Our proprietary program develops the best of what academics call Social Emotional Learning or SEL, life skills like motivation, grit, connection and listening that help us relate, interact and advance as respectful, empathetic human beings in a coarsening world.
Year after year, school principals, teachers and families have witnessed the elevated
self-esteem, shared experience and engagement of each Dancing Classrooms student that propels enhanced performance in- and out-of-school in the semesters that follow.
Even in a virtual and socially-distanced world, we’ve heard time again that our program results in better student performance and engagement in the classroom and beyond.

WhyArts’ Saturday Arts Academy is a continuation and an all-arts expansion of the 20-lesson social-emotional learning (SEL) Dancing Classrooms curriculum, designed to foster a growth mindset.

In spring 2022, the program was expanded to incorporate visual and theatre arts, broadening its scope to attract students who are interested in those art forms. It incorporates a similar teaching model to the Dancing Classrooms program, all participants are provided with free door-to-door bus transportation, and every student is provided with a well stocked, take-home art kit with the goal of fostering diversity, equitable participation, and inclusion.

The program is open to students grades 4-12 from our current roster of participating Omaha metropolitan schools. The classes are separated by age group. The program consists of six three-hour workshops held on Saturday mornings.

The Kids on the Block (KOB) is an educational puppet program for grades K-4 that enlightens children on the issues of disability awareness, medical-educational differences and social concerns. Each topic is thoroughly researched and provides children with the opportunity to interact with the "Kids" and address their questions regarding the specific topic.
All of the puppets represent the diverse population WhyArts serves. We hired and trained puppeteers from the community who match in disability diversity with the puppets they operate.

Starting January 2023, the program will be in the metro Omaha elementary schools and our community partners.