In February 2024, Arts for Learning NW relocated its downtown offices to East Portland at 8911 SE Stark Street, sharing space with another youth-supporting organization. The decades-old group began sparking schoolchildren’s artistic interest in 1958 under the name Young Audiences of Oregon as a regional chapter of a national arts-in-education organization. What started as a program exposing students to classical music expanded to encompass various art styles with diverse cultural origins. Arts for Learning NW offers educators a roster of 80 programs, including individual artists or artist ensembles. The 120 participating artists have skills in visual arts, performing arts, digital media, and culturally specific arts like Peruvian dance or West African drumming.
In 2023, after 65 years, the group changed its name to reflect a new priority, moving away from its passive roots where students were only audience members. “That’s shifted in the last 20 to 30 years to be much more about hands-on experiences for the kids, giving young people a chance to try different art forms,” explained Arts for Learning NW’s Executive Director Lauren Jost. Eighty percent of their in-school engagements are artist residencies, with the remaining twenty percent focused on performances. New programming is more accessible and engaging for the students. Residencies usually provide five sessions either on specific days spanning weeks or every day in one week.
For example, residencies could focus on digital media, with artists teaching stop-motion animation or muralists guiding student-made art installations in schools. A theater ensemble can lead improv sessions or devise scene work. Visiting artists might work with all students in a particular grade or with the classroom of a teacher who requested it for a learning module.
Funding for these programs comes from various sources, often with Arts for Learning NW working at the district level to secure partnerships. It has agreements with North Clackamas School District, Vancouver School District, and Hillsboro School District to cover program costs for its schools. That approach allows individual schools to request the services for free while the district uses Student Success Act money and other funding sources to support the program at all schools. However, district support is not always required, and the organization has decades of experience working with individual educational institutions. “Some schools use their discretionary funds they have for enrichment and engagement experiences. A lot of schools historically had paid through PTA funds because the school districts weren’t necessarily adequately funding arts experiences. That is problematic in terms of equity because students don’t get served equally, depending on socioeconomics,” said Jost.
Over the last few years, Arts for Learning NW has reworked many of its operating principles to ensure all students have access to the arts. In 2021, it reimagined its school fundraising jog-a-thon called Run for the Arts. “It’s now a dance-a-thon, and all the money gets put into the same pot,” explained Jost. The funds are divided by student, then distributed to the schools based on participation in what they feel is a more equitable fundraising model.
Arts for Learning NW partnered with the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) for 15 years to bring The Right Brain Initiative to schools and took over that program when RACC stepped away in 2020. The program has continued to grow and served 15,000 students this year, spanning the Hillsboro, Gresham-Barlow, Corbett, Oregon Trail, and Parkrose School Districts. The Right Brain Initiative uses local government and private donor partnerships to make arts education accessible to every K-8 student in the Portland Tri-County Region. The School District pays a portion of the fee, and Arts for Learning NW raises most of the remaining funds from the community through grant writing. This endeavor looks to create long-term arts integration within public education. “It includes not just a residency in the schools with an artist but also professional development with the teachers on how to integrate the arts into their everyday teaching. This is a district-wide program, so every elementary school in the district will participate at no cost directly to the schools,” said Jost. “It’s been going on for 15 years, so there are some schools where every teacher now has a decade of arts and integration professional development. It’s a really transformative program.”
The pandemic was hard on the organization, with artists unable to interact with students for two years, and some people moved on to other professions. They have since rebuilt the roster of artists and are fully back in schools. However, like many businesses, they found having large offices for the 12 admin staff was not necessary anymore. Most full-time employees now work from home some days, and the artists primarily work at the schools. That workplace shift let the organization downsize to a handful of offices in a shared building where neighbor organizations also support young people. Building partner My Voice Music (MVM) compliments the work of Arts for Learning NW through their shared belief in art’s positive role in developing healthy people. The two organizations work opposite hours, with MVM’s focus on afterschool programs and Arts for Learning NW’s daytime work in line with the school’s schedule. “We are just thrilled to be in a community rather than just a tower downtown. We love having students walking through the building and getting to meet our neighbors,” said Jost.
On May 17th, Arts for Learning NW will host its big party of the year called SH/FT. It is a fashion runway show where student teams working with professional designers create Couture Runway looks made out of up-cycled and recycled materials. They’re custom-made for local drag Queens, who will model the designs. The runway event starts at 7 p.m., and people can buy tickets online. Lauren Jost is excited about the new Montavilla location and hopes that the new office in this community will allow them to explore other program options and reach more students.
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