As stated in our mission, Arts For All offers accessible artistic opportunities to children in the New York City area who face socio-economic, physical, or emotional barriers to exploring the arts. Through Arts For All, professional artists work with youth organizations to build self-confidence, self-expression, teamwork, resilience, and creativity in children.
While there is an obvious goal for the students who participate in our workshops to become better artists, our workshops are not centered on “art for arts’ sake”. It is through art that we work to grow our 5 Core Values – self-confidence, self-expression, teamwork, resilience, and creativity – in these students. And where there are physical artworks and dance numbers that show how a student’s art capabilities have grown – how does one know if their self-confidence has increased? Or their ability to work as a part of a team? At the beginning of each semester, our Teaching Artists select certain Core Values that they home in on within their lessons to help their students’ Core Values grow, and throughout the semester they assess how their classrooms are progressing with a final result percentage at the end.
In School Year 2025-26, we saw high levels of growth in core values, based on data taken from across our programs. On average, we recorded students increasing 25% in self-confidence, 31% in self-expression, 21% in teamwork, 19% in resilience and 29% in creativity. We also recorded a 41% increase in literacy.
A few specific examples are given below:
Core Value: Self-Confidence
At Renaissance Charter School in Jackson Heights, Teaching Artist Rathi worked with a Kindergarten classroom to explore visual arts skills through our Literacy Through the Arts Program.
We saw a 36% increase in self-confidence as students grew to become more confident in presenting and describing their artwork to their peers.
Core Value: Self-Expression
At PS243, Teaching Artist Nami worked with a Kindergarten classroom through a series of engaging dance workshops within our Artistic Residency Program.
Throughout the residency, students were encouraged to communicate thoughts, emotions, and ideas through movement, and by its conclusion, we saw a 31% increase in students’ abilities to express themselves through the use of whole-body movements and facial expressions to show their feelings or tell a story through dance.
Core Value: Teamwork
At PS15, Teaching Artist Briget worked with a Third Grade classroom to develop their visual arts skills throughout our Artistic Residency Program.
The classroom demonstrated a 28% growth in teamwork during workshops as they respectfully shared ideas and materials amongst other members sat at their tables.
Core Value: Resilience
At PS194, Teaching Artist Stephanie worked with a Kindergarten classroom through a series of engaging theater-based workshops through our Literacy Through the Arts Program.
In this class, we saw a 34% increase in resilience as students were able to adjust their expectations and practice self-regulation when faced with a classroom or activity challenge.
Core Value: Creativity
At Renaissance Charter School in Jackson Heights, Teaching Artist Natalie worked with Second Grade students to stretch their imaginations and explore visual arts techniques through our Artistic Residency Program.
Students were challenged to think creatively, resulting in a 30% increase in creativity as students strengthened their abilities to use unconventional materials throughout their artmaking process.
