Blog
Young Audiences of Maryland Receives $50,000 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts
BALTIMORE – Young Audiences of Maryland has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support its Principal Fellowship program – a year-long initiative guiding 10 Baltimore City Public School principals in integrating the…
Arts & Learning Kids Show Now Available to All Maryland School Districts
When schools closed last spring, we knew it was time to improvise. Even (or especially!) at home, students need high-quality learning experiences and creative engagement to ensure they continue growing. Closed classrooms presented a significant challenge for artists to collaborate…
The Teaching Artists Who Make It Happen Need Our Help
Pure and simple, our teaching artists are the engine for the inspired learning Young Audiences brings to the classroom and to students. They drive the creativity. They are the inspiration that excites and motivates students. And they give selflessly. Now…
A message from Stacie:
Dear Friends, I am struggling with the events of yesterday. Like so many, I feel anger, shame, sadness, and confusion. But I also know I will never truly understand what Black and brown people must be going through as these…
A Love Letter to Our Board:
If you are part of any nonprofit, what kinds of things come to mind that a board member might ask you to bring to a meeting? Is it a budget? The latest donor report? This is why I love the…
Meet our New Chief Program Officer!
Providing students with engaging, meaningful, arts-infused learning experiences is a team effort—and we’re incredibly excited to announce that ours is growing! We’re pleased to welcome Jessica Smith Hebron to the Young Audiences team as our new Chief Program Officer! Jessica’s…
What Is Our Responsibility To Stand Up For Racial Justice?
Written by Stacie Sanders Evans, President and CEO of Young Audiences/Arts for Learning In November, the Director of Arts Administrators of Color, Quanice Floyd, penned an op-ed with the title The Failure of Arts Organizations to Move Toward Racial Equity…
Students Need Arts Education Now More than Ever
Written by Stacie Sanders Evans, President and CEO of Young Audiences/Arts for Learning The arts shape who we are. When we’re exposed to an art form–when we’re diving in and really experiencing it–we’re seeing life through a different lens. This…
Young Audiences of Maryland Wins NSLA 2020 New York Life Excellence in Summer Learning Award
BALTIMORE – Young Audiences of Maryland, the Baltimore-based nonprofit delivering arts-integrated learning experiences to Maryland students and educators, has won the National Summer Learning Association’s 2020 New York Life Foundation Excellence in Summer Learning Award for its Summer Arts &…
Lessons from Summer: Preparing for a Virtual Fall
By now, Maryland students will have started their new school year. We know they have been missed terribly by their teachers and by their friends. And while they might not be reuniting in the ways that they had hoped, we…
BAI 2020: Internship Reimagined
Reimagining and delivering an intense and multifaceted program for rising high school seniors in the midst of a pandemic is a worthwhile challenge.
The Answer is Yes
In her previous life, Ms. Buls, the lead science teacher at Cross Country EMS, worked as a photographer. So the thought of getting cameras into her students’ hands was irresistible—it had to happen!
Black Lives Matter
Artists shape culture. Artists help us to see, understand, and express injustice. And, if we want to build a world that is just—we as a society need to be able to imagine that world. The arts are critical to that.
Weekends Are for Arts & Learning Kids!
Did you catch Arts & Learning Kids! on Channel 77 this weekend? Young Audiences created this cool educational TV show in partnership with City Schools to reinforce what our students are learning remotely through interactive arts-integrated lessons! Each episode is…
Young Audiences Produces Curriculum-based TV Show To Support Baltimore Students’ Remote Learning
Arts Integration Episodes Will Air Weekly Through Partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools BALTIMORE – Young Audiences of Maryland, the Baltimore-based nonprofit delivering arts-integrated learning to Maryland students, is partnering with Baltimore City Public Schools to produce Arts & Learning…
The Power of What If?
Dear Friends, What if we invested in artists at this time to dream up new ways to teach and reach children? One of the things I admire about artists is their ability to envision and create without constraint. They…
COVID-19: An important update from Young Audiences
Dear Friends, Young Audiences continues to monitor the news around COVID-19 and is actively following the directions of the Maryland Department of Health, Governor Larry Hogan, State Superintendent of Schools Dr. Karen Salmon, the Maryland State Department of Education, and…
Young Audiences’ Free Summer Arts & Learning Academy to Expand to Nearly 2,600 Children After Study Shows it Reduces Summer Learning Loss
Arts-integrated program for City Schools students expanding to nine sites in 2020 after program successfully reduced summer learning loss in math BALTIMORE – Young Audiences’ Summer Arts & Learning Academy–the free, five-week arts integration program for Baltimore City Public School…
Access for All Awards Granted
We know that students who have regular access to arts opportunities outperform their peers in virtually every measure. And thanks to generous donors, Young Audiences’ artists and programs are available to high-need Baltimore City Public Schools at up to 80%…
#GivingArts4Learning: Micaela’s Story
Our staff at Young Audiences do not just come to work. We come to support a mission: to transform the lives and education of our youth through the arts by connecting educators, professional artists, and communities. And we come with…
#GivingArts4Learning: Femi’s Story
Our artists know how to use their art form to draw kids into the work, to get students to challenge and surprise themselves and proudly show off their achievements. They see how arts integration engages and motivates even the most reluctant…
#GivingArts4Learning: Shannon’s Story
Alice’s year at Summer Arts & Learning Academy (SALA) meant so much to her. The program helped bring clarity to math concepts my daughter was struggling with through an art form she loves, she felt confident, and she felt like…
#GivingArts4Learning: Barbara’s Story
I have been a volunteer for Young Audiences for seven years now, ever since discovering them when Colette was in 10th grade, and was asked to speak at their Impact Breakfast. I learned then how much YA had already impacted…
#GivingArts4Learning: Alex’s Story
Young Audiences has played a pivotal role in Alex’s life, both past and present. As a child, he discovered his love of writing during a YA artist residency in his public elementary school. Nearly two decades later he works as a…
Arts & Learning Days: A Taste of Summer in the School Year
A whole-child approach to learning puts significant focus on the social and emotional needs of students. And as we’ve seen in our Summer Arts & Learning Academy (SALA), the arts and arts integration pair naturally with social and emotional learning (SEL).…
Innovative Program Brings Arts Integration to Early Childhood Education in Baltimore
Baby Artsplay!™ provides multi-sensory learning at Judy Centers with funding from Saul Zaentz Foundation BALTIMORE – Beginning this month, hundreds of Baltimore’s youngest children, their families, care providers, and educators will engage in hands-on, arts-integrated programs at five Baltimore City…
Passion Is Contagious
Written by Barbara Krebs, Young Audiences volunteer and Sunburst Society member Recently I toured Ireland, circumnavigating this gorgeous island from the Republic of Ireland, to Northern Ireland before returning to Dublin. If you have half a day, I’ll be happy…
Sowing a Big Idea: Growing Up Green
Some big ideas are meant to be shared. It is through partnership and collaboration that the big ideas grow roots and become an integral part of something even bigger. In 2015, Pat Cruz, YA’s then-chief innovation officer, and educator Mary…
Hear Scott Paynter on smARTbeats!
smARTbeats returns to WTMD on Saturday, October 19 during the weekly children’s program Young At Heart! On this month’s segment, host Lisa Mathews talks with Scott Paynter, or Scotty P as he’s known around town, one of our talented teaching artists from Summer Arts & Learning Academy (SALA). He…
Meet the Principal: Aleesha Manning
Mrs. Aleesha Manning, Principal of Cecil Elementary, began her teaching career in Baltimore City in 2003 as a Kindergarten teacher at Lakewood Elementary. The following year, she joined the Cecil family/community and served as a teacher and assistant principal. She…