Arts For Learning Maryland
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Students engaged in the arts more likely to have better school attendance, get higher grades, and have greater self confidence and leadership skills (Heath et. al. 1998; Larson & Brown 2007; DeMoss & Morris 2002). Research also shows that high-quality arts experiences can help to narrow the persistent achievement gap between older students (Caterall 2009).
Over the past ten years, however, standardized testing has changed teacher practice and students' learning experiences in the US. In order to meet state and federal standards while balancing limited time and financial resources, schools have made difficult decisions to prioritize tested subjects such as math, reading, and science over the arts. Unfortunately, it is students, especially those who could most benefit from experiencing and participating in the arts, who suffer the consequences. Dr. Kyung Hee Kim writes, "Standardized testing ... diminishes students' natural curiosity and joy for learning in its own right" (Kim 2011).
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Professional Development for Educators
Arts for Learning Maryland trains teachers of all subjects in the use of arts integration in order to reach the hundreds, if not thousands, of students they may teach in their lifetimes. Professional development is led by our highly experienced staff and ranges from a day-long program to year-round district training, depending on the needs of the participants.
Teaching Artist Training
Arts for Learning Maryland provides comprehensive professional development programs that train teaching artists in the use and understanding of the state curriculum and Common Core Standards and arts-integration strategies to engage teachers and students.
Summer Arts for Learning Academy
Arts for Learning Maryland's Summer Arts for Learning Academy (SALA) is a free, six-week program for students in grades pre-K-6. Priority enrollment is given to those students who are behind grade level in math and/or literacy.
SALA's mission is to provide students with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend a summer learning from the best teachers and teaching artists our state has to offer. Through a dynamic, creative, and supportive environment, students will explore math and literacy in a unique arts-integrated environment that prevents the summer learning slide, develop socially and emotionally, expand their personal creative process, and be introduced to many different art forms by professional artists.
Students enrolled in SALA historically excelled far beyond the district’s expectations, and the program consistently reduces summer learning loss - in fact, many students leave the program demonstrating academic growth.
Arts-Based, In-School Performances, Workshops, and Residencies
Our school services, which serve children ages 0 - 18, include:
• Live Performances: Our roster artists lead assemblies that invigorate, excite, and inspire, with content ranging in content from Shakespeare to African drumming and dance.
• Individual Workshops: A small group of students works alongside a professional teaching artist in an in-depth, hands-on arts lesson.
• Long-Term Residencies: A professional teaching artist partners with a classroom teacher for an extended period of time. Students experience curriculum-aligned, arts-integrated lessons while teachers, in their own classrooms, gain arts-integration skills and real-time feedback that last long after the program has ended.
All programs, which represent a variety of artistic disciplines and address a range of curricular goals, are aligned with Common Core standards and led by highly trained teaching artists.
To learn more, visit: https://www.artsforlearningmd.org/programs/
Where we work
Awards
Excellence in Summer Learning Award 2020
National Summer Learning Association
External reviews
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsNumber of students enrolled
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Arts-Based, In-School Performances, Workshops, and Residencies
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Students reached through direct, arts-based programs, including: in-school performances, residencies, and workshops; after school workshops; and summer programs.
Number of teachers trained
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Related Program
Professional Development for Educators
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Teachers/educators that received professional development in arts integration through workshops or embedded professional development in other services.
Number of groups/individuals benefiting from tools/resources/education materials provided
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Artists and performers
Related Program
Teaching Artist Training
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
Number of artists who completed (not enrolled in) the Teaching Artist Institute. Because of the intensity of the Institute, some artists do not complete the program.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
1. Increase direct student access to the arts through subsidized, affordable programs. We strive to cover the gap between what schools can afford to pay and what professional artists need to earn by actively raising funds to subsidize programs for low-income communities.
2. Help artists play a more meaningful role in education through training and support. Our Teaching Artist Institute helps professional artists develop fluency in the state curriculum and Common Core Standards – including Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) skills – as well as arts-integration strategies.
3. Increase the use of arts integration in the classroom. Young Audiences offers a range of professional development opportunities for educators, including professional development workshops, residencies, and long-term school and district partnerships. Our work in this field helps to ensure that teachers can implement arts-integration techniques, with or without the presence of a professional teaching artist, in order to inspire and motivate their students.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Young Audiences' mission is to transform the lives and education of our youth through the arts by connecting educators, professional artists, and communities. Our mission-aligned organizational goals are intended to ensure that we are relentlessly working towards our vision that one day, all students will have the opportunity to imagine, create, and realize their full potential through the arts.
To achieve these goals, we provide services that enhance student learning in, through, and about the arts, either directly or indirectly, including:
• Assemblies, residencies, and standalone workshops that introduce students to different cultures and art forms, while encouraging them to pursue their curiosities and shape their own learning.
• Professional development for educators and artists in the use of arts integration as a powerful, dynamic approach to teaching and assessment that reaches more students where they are.
• Customized programming for school districts to help them reach their goals – from providing the resources and environment for students to meet high academic standards to transforming teacher practice and learning spaces.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
In 1950, Young Audiences founder Nina Collier hosted a well-known violinist, Yehudi Menuhin, to play for and talk with a group of children in her Baltimore home. Noticing how much the children enjoyed the experience, Ms. Collier organized a series of 20 chamber music concerts for Baltimore City elementary students. Young Audiences has since grown to encompass dozens of chapters, which provide a wide range of arts and education services in more than half of U.S. states. Collectively, the network brings programming to more than five million students every year.
Young Audiences of Maryland has served its community for nearly 70 years, evolving from an assembly provider in Baltimore City to a champion of increased student access to high quality, arts-based learning experiences throughout the state.
In the past decade, YA has experienced rapid growth: in FY06, with a budget of just over $800,000, we delivered 930 assembly services. In FY19, we delivered 19,873 workshops, assemblies, and summer learning opportunities to students, in addition to 2,036 teacher and artist development workshops. In total, we provided services to over 173,000 students across Maryland in 2018-19. Our FY20 budget is $7.5 million.
Maryland has a vibrant arts and culture landscape, and we are proud to be a part of it. Where other organizations focus narrowly on the arts, Young Audiences is designing and evaluating arts integration programs that transform educational outcomes and impact teacher practice. In addition to direct student services, we also address the lack of arts in education by reaching teachers, administrators, and teaching artists. Our residencies and professional development programs give teachers arts integration skills -- which reach students with a variety of learning preferences and instill an excitement for learning -- that will last long after our teaching artists have left the school building.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Last year, Young Audiences reached over 173,000 students across Maryland. In total, we provided more than 496,000 learning hours in, through, and about the arts. In addition to our regular services, which include residencies and assemblies, artist training, and teacher professional development, we are proud of our new and growing initiatives, which are creating new opportunities for Maryland students to learn in, through, and about the arts.
In 2018, Young Audiences nearly doubled the Summer Arts & Learning Academy in size to serve 2,129 students at eight sites across Baltimore City. The Academy is a free, five week, full-day program, developed in partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools, for elementary students attending Title I Baltimore City schools. During the Academy, students participate in daily arts-integrated math and literacy lessons that are co-taught by a professional teaching artist and a certified teacher. Students also get to choose from a variety of arts, robotics, and athletics enrichment opportunities.
Other highlights from the 2018-19 year include:
Judy Center Partnership | In 2019, Young Audiences began partnering with Baltimore City Judy Centers to provide professional development for affiliated child care practitioners. Judy Centers are responsible for providing wrap-around services to support the development of children from birth through age five in their communities. These services include providing professional development for the child care practitioners in their community. Young Audiences is providing a variety of professional development opportunities for the Centers and their communities, including group workshops and residencies with embedded professional development. Other components of the partnership include workshops around the arts and play for parents and caregivers, as well as embedded professional development residencies for the schools where the participating Centers are located.
Arts Empowered Minds Initiative | The Initiative is a collective impact project involving several partners, including Anne Arundel County Public Schools. The project utilizes the arts to improve school achievement, parent involvement, and student engagement and empathy at the 12 public schools in Northern Anne Arundel County. By creating new programs and leveraging existing resources to increase their impact, the Initiative increases access to high-quality, arts-integrated learning opportunities.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We share the feedback we received with the people we serve, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Arts For Learning Maryland
Board of directorsas of 12/08/2023
Ms. Sheelagh Allston
Lois Mark
Eric M. Pripstein
Tea Carnell
Sheelagh Allston
Lisa Arnesen
Bill Buckner
Candice Buckner
Brett Frazier
Denise Galambos
Nancy Kass
Barbara Kesler
Sarah Maher
Cecil Martin
Julie Medalis
Suzanne B. Owens
Catherine Pierre
Kiati Plooksawasdi
Tom Sessa
Chris Wallace
John Williams
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 12/08/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.