Art Programs For 5,000 In-Need New York Children

Dear Friend,

On behalf of everyone here at Arts For All, we hope you are doing well going into the holiday season! We are incredibly grateful this year to be reflecting on a year of growth in 2023, providing more programs and serving more students than ever before. 

It is because of your continued support that our organization has been able to survive through the ups and downs of the past 3 years, and is looking brightly at the future ahead. It is because of individuals like yourself, our dedicated staff, teaching artists, donors, and partnering organizations, that we have continued to grow and further spread our mission to children all throughout New York City. 

In keeping you informed on all of Arts For All's activities throughout 2023, we hope you will enjoy reading about this past year's programmatic accomplishments and projects we’ve been working extremely hard on delivering.

1) With the success of our online virtual series,Mondays with Mé, and expanding on our core programs (Artistic Residency Program, Literacy Through the Arts,and theAudience Project) both in-person and virtually, we are continuing to serve approximately 5,000 children per year. Additionally, we have been recognized as a top-rated organization through Great Nonprofits for the 12th time!

2) We’ve also, for the first time ever, received new funding from the National Endowment for the Arts!This has created a large impact on our programming, and we are so grateful to have federal support for the first time. In addition we have received first time funding from the Genesis Inspiration Foundation.It was so exciting to have several members from the Genesis team join us at one of our schools for an incredibly special check presentation. The team not only got to observe our work in action, but also had a great time working hands on with the students in the classroom.

3) With our continued growth, we are happy to report that by the end of 2023 we will have been able to offer over 550 Literacy Through The Arts (LTA) workshops and serve approximately1,430 students between our virtual content andour LTA school partners, including PS15, PS76, Renaissance Charter School 1 & 2, PS163, PS4 and PS197!Through our Artistic Residency Program (ARP) both in-person and virtually, by the end of 2023 we will have been able to serve over 3,660 students and offer in total over 425workshops between all of our ARP school partners including PS69, PS163, PS194, PS19, PS310, Renaissance Charter School in Jackson Heights, Williamsburg High School of Arts and Tech, PS243, and the Corlears School.

4) Arts For All’s Virtual Classroom has continued to be a strong presence and opportunity for online learners.We’ve been able to create a total of 185 videos between 20 different series.   We are in the process of creating a new 10-part learning series on Social and Emotional learning based on Arts For All’s core values, which incorporates bilingual practices, featuring Teaching Artist Leah Young.  We have also continued to build out our Fun Craft Fridays and are thrilled to have a full calendar year of projects for students to do virtually every week.

5) This year, we also were able to bring back our Audience Project and Artistic Exposure Programin person with a trip to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum,giving students not only the opportunity to visit the museum, but also to experience a special performance ofBLAST OFF! (to space)The Showcreated and performed by artist, Mélissa Smith. This field trip came after completing the Blast Off! Astronaut Training Residency where students in 3rd, 4th and 5th Grade at Renaissance Charter School experienced an astronomically exciting four-part workshop series and earned certificates to become Certified Superstars for their first mission to space!

In being able to accomplish so much throughout 2023, we would like to thank YOU, for always being there to support our organization and for believing in our mission to provide accessible artistic opportunities to children. We have been so fortunate to have been able to continue to not only offer our programs to our partners, but also to grow both in-person and virtually. 

We hope that you will continue to support our organization this holiday season and consider a contribution, so that we can continue to provide sustainable, quality arts programs to under-served children in New York City for years to come. 

Wishing you and your loved ones the best health and spirits.

Sincerely,                                                                                                                                                                                    

Felix Miguel Reyes                                                                                                                                                              

Development Associate

Summer 2023 Activities, Spring Wrap Up, and more!

As we're well into the Summer, we at Arts For All want to share with you, our GlobalGiving community, some updates of what we have coming up for the Fall, give a wrap up of this past Spring, and more:

1) This coming 2023-24 school year AFA will continue residencies with our other ARP partners, Weeksville Elementary, PS69, PS163, PS76, Renaissance Charter School 1, WHSAT, PS310, PS19, Corlears School, New Alternatives for Children (NAC) & potentially additional partners. It is estimated that we will provide approximately 30-34, 6-18 week residencies totalling over 425 workshops, serving approximately 700 students. In addition, our virtual interactive series Monday’s with Mé series will continue. We also will continue to expand on our Virtual Classroom ARP videos, originally created in 2020-2021, in order to provide more virtual learning content for our partners & students to use during the SY23-24. We anticipate the virtual classroom to serve an additional 500-1000 students for ARP.  

2) With our LTA residencies, we're working to build literacy skills through the arts, in line with the school’s academic curriculum in grades K-2. Next school year we are working to incorporate the NYS Next Generation Learning Standards.  AFA will provide LTA programs for up to 28 weeks per grade for each LTA school partner. Classes will meet once per week per grade (for approximately 45-50 min periods) at the following schools: PS15, RCS 1 & 2, PS76, PS163 & with our programming partner Behind the Book. We anticipate approximately 30 residencies, totaling approximately over 600 workshops serving an estimated 550 students. We also will continue to expand on our Virtual Classroom LTA videos, originally created in 2020-2021. We anticipate virtual programming to serve an additional 250-750 students for LTA.

3) As we're now in July we are getting ready to take part in GlobalGiving's annual July Bonus Day, which will be on Wednesday July 12th, 2023 from 9am ET till 11:59pm ET. Please be sure to join us on that day and give a contribution to Arts For All through our main GlobalGiving campaign if you're able to, as certain donations will be matched 30%-50% by GlobalGiving during the hours mentioned above!

To read more about how donations will be matched by GlobalGiving, please refer to their terms and conditions here: https://www.globalgiving.org/leaderboards/july-bonus-day-2023/terms/#:~:text=collected%20or%20combined.-,Dates%20%26%20Deadlines,59%20EDT%2C%20whichever%20comes%20first.

And finally as always, thank YOU for always supporting our organization, what we do, and in believing in our mission.

From everyone here at Arts For All we hope you and your loved ones are all enjoying your summers!

Sincerely,
Felix Miguel Reyes
Development Associate

Links:

• Mondays with Me: Kickin' It with My Chicken Dance Break
• Mondays with Me: "Born Ready" by J. Patterson and C. Barlow
• Mondays with Me: "I Can Do Hard Things" by G Garcia & C Russell