Since it’s founding in 1998, Art Sphere Incorporated has worked diligently to empower under-served youth and communities through arts education. Filling a void left by declining arts funding in school districts and city budgets, Art Sphere provides not only art materials and activities, but also comprehensive educational and community building experiences that encourage youth to stay in school, make healthy choices, and believe in their futures. It’s a proven approach, and it can work wonders:
- The UCLA Imagination Project found that arts education “makes a tremendous impact on the developmental growth of every child and has proven to help level the ‘learning field’ across socio-economic boundaries.“
- A study by Stanford University and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching found that young people who get regular arts education are significantly more likely than other students to participate in math and science fairs, win poetry and essay contests, participate in youth groups, read for pleasure, and perform community service.
- The University of Pennsylvania’s Social Impact of the Arts Project reported that “among low-income neighborhoods, those with high levels of cultural participation were five times more likely to have very low levels of delinquency and three times more likely to have very low rates of truancy.”