MISSION

Art For Progress' Arts Education Community provides underserved youth with dynamic artistic programming that promotes reflection and self-expression. By connecting youth with working artists, their communities and each other, we hope to transform the way they see themselves and the world around them.

While public schools in New York City have been working hard to meet federal and state mandates for student test scores, arts education programs have become scarce. At Art for Progress, it is our mission to reverse this trend by delivering quality Arts and Humanities programs to the students of New York City’s public schools. Our programs are designed and implemented by professional educators and teaching artists who have a wealth of experience in arts education in public schools and community-based after school programs. In addition, Art for Progress works closely with teachers and administrators at client schools to design programs for students that deepen their understanding of core subject areas. Through arts and humanities education, students will make connections between material covered in class and their community; they will explore other cultures and examine human experience from a variety of perspectives and artistic forms.

We are all familiar with reports such as the Rockefeller Foundation’s The Humanities in American Life, which recommended the establishment of an [arts] and humanities curriculum in all public schools as a step towards improving the public education system in the United States. One need not look any further than the very first page of this report to find some compelling reasons for establishing such a curriculum nationally.

“…the humanities mirror our own image and our image of the world. Through the [arts] and humanities we reflect on the fundamental question: what does it mean to be human? The [arts] and humanities do not necessarily mean humaneness, nor do they always inspire the individual with what Cicero called "incentives to noble action." But by awakening a sense of what it might be like to be someone else or to live in another time or culture, they tell us about ourselves, stretch our imagination, and enrich our experience. They increase our distinctively human potential”

There is not a national arts and humanities curriculum, nor has there been a move towards creating one. We have made it the mission of Art for Progress to bring the arts and humanities into public schools, especially those located in underserved communities. Meaningful exposure to the arts and humanities is beneficial in many ways, and our aim is to deliver academically sound programs that will focus on community building, critical thinking, analytical skills, problem solving, and ultimately human development and personal growth. Art For Progress is dedicated to the development of New York City’s underserved communities, and we will work with public schools to provide a wide range of arts and humanities education programs for the students of those communities.