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Dear Arts For All Community,
It is hard to believe we are already approaching the end of the school year!
What wonderful school year it has been, as we have continued to provide accessible arts programming to children all over New York City. As summer begins, we are glad to share with you several highlights from the 2024-2025 school year, including over 900 in-person workshops in several disciplines, updates to our virtual classroom, and even our first fully Spanish final presentation created by students.
2024-2025 School Year Highlights:
1. This year our Artistic Residency Program provided 450 in-person workshops to more than 700 students between our school partners PS19, PS163, PS194, PS15, PS69, New Alternatives for Children (NAC), Williamsburg High School of Arts and Tech, Corlears School, Weeksville Elementary and Renaissance Charter School 1 in Jackson Heights.
2. This is the second year where we provided ARP workshops to PS15! Over this 5-week residency, Teaching Artists Natalie del Villar and Marcela Artunduaga combined theatre and visual arts to complete class murals for 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. These murals were then showcased at the school's Maker Fair at the end of the school year.
- Over 500 in-person workshops between our school partners PS15, PS76, PS163, both Renaissance Charter School locations in Elmhurst and Jackson Heights as well as PS4 and IS 235 with Behind the Book were provided through our Literacy Through the Arts Program to more than 450 students!
4. This fall, Arts For All's Audience Project provided opportunities for several students across our school partners to see professional theatre productions including Suffs at the Music Box Theatre, Aladdin at New Amsterdam Theatre, and tour performances of Jaime Benavides' Juan Sombrero in the City of the Future.
5. During a 5-week residency, in partnership with New Alternatives for Children and IS303 in the Bronx, Spanish speaking theatre teaching artist Marcela Artunduaga led a group of 13 middle schoolers through scene work. In the end, the students created their own scenes and performed them for NAC staff. Ultimately, the final product resulted in a video product of the student's scenes which will be a keepsake for NAC and Arts For All.
Virtual Classroom:
Summer break may be here but that doesn't mean the learning has to stop! Our Virtual Classroom provides both educational video workshops featuring dance, poetry, crafts, and video editing as well as interactive Activity Books, Tic-Tac-Toe boards for on-the-go learning and more! Here are a few of our most recent additions.
Our latest Literacy Through the Arts video series - Arts For All: Behind the Artist - premiered earlier this month! Hosted by AFA's Program Manager and fellow teaching artist Angel Hermosillo, this video series features nine of our Teaching Artists as they discuss how art helps them stay connected to their culture and background. New episodes will premiere every Wednesday through July on YouTube and Facebook!
Our Interactive Activities section has also grown with several new Word Scrambles created by AFA Teaching Artist Stephanie Mandra-Martinez!
Other News:
- Fun Craft Fridays: looking for some DIY activities to do? Each week, we post a different arts and crafts activity that are easy and fun to complete. Be sure to check out our social media every Friday to find craft projects for you and your children to do together at home!
- Arts For All Blog: we are always updating our blog to keep our community up to date on our teaching artists and workshops. Articles coming soon: "A Day In the Classroom With Arts For All" recapping several workshops from this school year by AFA Interns as well as "Meet The Artist" Q&A interviews with AFA's Teaching Artists who joined the roster this school year.
Fundraising:
We are excited to share an opportunity to make your support for Arts For All go even further. July 16-17, 2025, marks the GlobalGiving July Bonus Day - a special 24-hour occasion where donations between $100 and $1,000 will be eligible for matching while funds last! July Bonus Day begins on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, starting at 10:00 a.m. EDT and ends on Thursday, July 17, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. EDT. We encourage you to donate early, as matching funds may run out before the end of the campaign.
In conclusion, none of this would be possible without the support of donors like you who see the importance of Arts For All’s work and make contributions to keep us fully operational. It’s amazing to see the difference a dedicated community can make for thousands of students in New York City!
Wishing everyone a fantastic summer, and we hope to have your support again for the next school year!
Sincerely,
Anna Roberts Ostroff
Executive Director
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