Arts Education for All: Lessons From the First Half of the Ford Foundation's National Arts Education Initiative

Provides an overview of an initiative to expand access to integrated arts education with partnership building, advocacy, and strategic communications activities. Discusses Ford's theory of change, challenges, lessons learned, and case summaries.

• Successful Strategy: By using a citywide, socioeconomic and diversity equity framing, grantees have been able to move fragmented arts education programs to a systems-change framework, facilitating the mobilization of a broader group of grassroots organizations and education policy advocates. Tweet
• Successful Strategy: By using a citywide, socioeconomic and diversity equity framing, grantees have been able to move fragmented arts education programs to a systems-change framework, facilitating the mobilization of a broader group of grassroots organizations and education policy advocates. Tweet
• Observation: Though grantees intellectually understood the value of advocacy and building public good will early on, it was not until they made the shift to thinking at a systems level or building equity for their programs that they began to think about policy change and the need to build advocacy skills. Tweet
• Observation: Though grantees intellectually understood the value of advocacy and building public good will early on, it was not until they made the shift to thinking at a systems level or building equity for their programs that they began to think about policy change and the need to build advocacy skills. Tweet
• Observation: Effective partnerships typically have tiered levels of engagement with clear accountability guidelines, where grantees frequently oversee the day-to-day partnership activities, communication and strategy planning Tweet
• Observation: Effective partnerships typically have tiered levels of engagement with clear accountability guidelines, where grantees frequently oversee the day-to-day partnership activities, communication and strategy planning Tweet
• Observation: Common planning time, where both arts-based and non-arts-based instructors share lesson plans, coordinate on approaches and concepts covered, and align goals served as a key success factor for integrated arts education programming. Tweet
• Observation: Common planning time, where both arts-based and non-arts-based instructors share lesson plans, coordinate on approaches and concepts covered, and align goals served as a key success factor for integrated arts education programming. Tweet