Arts for Learning Connecticut

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Mission

Our mission is to inspire young people and expand their learning through the arts. We envision a future in which all young people in Connecticut engage in quality arts learning in their schools and communities that nurtures creativity, promotes cultural awareness, and cultivates critical thinking and learning skills. We envision a future in which Arts for Learning CT and our artists, partners, and supporters work in strategic partnerships to reach shared goals for young people and our state.

Needs Statement

AFLCT’s FY24-26 Strategic Plan outlines the following 6 major goals: Increase access to impactful, high-quality arts learning programs for young people in schools and communities across Connecticut; Increase access to inspiring, impactful arts learning professional development for teachers and administrators; Increase the size, diversity, and skill of AFLCT’s Teaching Artist community; Grow our staff and ensure our team is diverse, well-supported, and thriving; Grow and diversify our board—with a particular focus on new individuals from the arts, education, and philanthropy sectors—and ensure they provide strategic, governance, and development support; Increase our budget and ensure our organization is financially sustainable through a diverse mix of earned and contributed revenue sources. As such, our top needs as an organization are the following: -Contributed revenue, particularly in our strategic growth areas of individual and corporate giving -Earned revenue through new client (primarily schools and school districts) acquisition -Board candidates, especially those from the arts, education, and philanthropy sectors

Impact Statement

AFLCT's roster of 85+ Teaching Artists provide programming across three categories: performances (one-off, larger group "exposure" work), workshops (1-2 week, smaller group "connection" work), and residencies (1+ month, "integration" work, partnering with classroom teachers to reach curricular outcomes). They span the creative spectrum, from dance to poetry to improv theater to jazz. Our Teaching Artists represent the diversity of our state, and engage students in grades K-12. 80% of our work happens in schools; we also reach students in libraries and community centers. In the 2023-24 school year we reached 65,000 unique students across Connecticut, providing over 130,000 student-hours of progrmaming. We've also expanded Higher Order Thinking (HOT) Schools to serve 10 schools in the 2023-24 school year, and will expand the cohort again next year. As demonstrated by our research partner, PERG Learning, this program has been successful in improving student engagement, enriching school culture, and expanding teacher practice. In the 2023-24 school year, AFLCT provided 1,712 programs; served 65,466 unique students and 4,288 educators; worked with 187 partner institutions; provided $697,848 in collective Teaching Artist earnings; and raised $659,771 to underwrite programs for schools and communities.

CEO statement

As the largest and preeminent provider of arts in education programming in the state, Arts for Learning CT is able to reach hundreds of thousands of students each year. Over the past four decades we have built a strong capacity for placing the right Teaching Artist in the right school at the right time—whether a Brazilian Capoeira artists performing for an entire elementary school, a digital photographer working with middle school science students, or a hip hop and spoken word poet leading a 2-week residency for high school students working on literacy and storytelling. Our Teaching Artists reflect the diversity of our state and represent excellence and deep commitment to both their craft and the practice of teaching—and they have become trusted educational partners in the schools in which they have served. Over the last few years we've relaunched Higher Order Thinking (HOT) Schools, a nationally-renowned arts learning program developed over 20 years by the CT Office of the Arts—and we're thrilled by the progress we're making. AFLCT has worked closely with the state arts agency to take on this program, and has steadily grown our cohort of partner schools each year, representing all grade levels, as well as urban, suburban, and rural communities. We are investing deeply in HOT Schools, a whole-school, deep-impact, teaching and learning program that will serve as our flagship program for transforming schools across the state. We recently completed a Developmental Evaluation of the program with Dr. Gene Diaz of PERG Learning, which outlines HOT Schools' success in improving student engagement, enriching school culture, and expanding teacher practice. With an ambitious FY24-26 Strategic Plan recently approved by our Board of Directors, AFLCT is ready to take on our big goals for our future in order to amplify our ability to inspire young people and expand their learning through the arts.

Board Chair Statement

Arts for Learning Connecticut programs can transform lives. AFLCT's gifted artists convey the importance of the arts in shaping our perspective on the world and can make the difference for young people struggling to connect with their education. I am proud that Arts for Learning CT has remained nimble, responsive, and fundamentally strong as we've navigated the COVID-19 pandemic and its lasting impacts. We have continued to move forward toward overarching organizational goals—including launching a new major programmatic initiative, Higher Order Thinking Schools; stabilizing of our financial model with significant contributed revenue; and substantially growing of our board of directors—all while pivoting our program implementation and finding ways to serve students and educators in their times of greatest need. By executing against the targets developed in our 3-year strategic plan, I expect that Arts for Learning CT will solidify and strengthen our impact in the months and years ahead. Now more than ever, children need access to arts in education to heal, connect, and grow.

Areas Served
Statewide

Areas Served Narrative

Arts for Learning Connecticut currently serves young people in all CT counties with a concentration in New Haven, Hartford, and Fairfield Counties, reaching over 50% of cities and towns across the state. We are always looking for new programming and partnership opportunities, and we hope one day to serve students in every school in CT.

Cultural Arts Performances and Presentations

Among the many arts learning programs that AFLCT’s teaching and performing artists offer are cultural arts performances and presentations. These are often provided in larger group “assembly” settings in schools, libraries, museums, and community centers, and are usually 45 minutes in length. They feature high-quality presentations by professional artists showcasing their craft, often rooted in a particular cultural tradition. Art forms vary widely, from Dance & Movement to Literary Arts & Storytelling, Music to Theatre—and everything in between! AFLCT maintains a diverse roster of artists and artistic groups who can share performances and presentations that are tailored to a given audience or community. They are often participatory and always engaging, and can feature multidisciplinary elements—including instruments, costumes, props, and more. Cultural arts performances and presentations are designed to expose participants to the art form and cultural content and inspire learning.
Example of Program Success	All of AFLCT’s work is grounded in the National Core Arts Standards; our performance programs are specifically designed to support student learning aligned with the Artistic Processes of “Responding” (Understanding and evaluating how the arts convey meaning) and “Connecting” (Relating artistic ideas and work with personal meaning and external context). This work is also conducted through the lens of Culturally Responsive Teaching, which ensures that students’ unique cultural references are included in their learning process. Teachers, administrators, and program directors across the state seek out these programs to inspire and engage, to create connections between content ideas and the community, and to offer new experiences and insights. Arts for Learning Connecticut regularly serves over 65,000 young people and family members annually through these programs.

Among the many arts learning programs that AFLCT’s teaching and performing artists offer are cultural arts performances and presentations. These are often provided in larger group “assembly” settings in schools, libraries, museums, and community centers, and are usually 45 minutes in length. They feature high-quality presentations by professional artists showcasing their craft, often rooted in a particular cultural tradition. Art forms vary widely, from Dance & Movement to Literary Arts & Storytelling, Music to Theatre—and everything in between! AFLCT maintains a diverse roster of artists and artistic groups who can share performances and presentations that are tailored to a given audience or community. They are often participatory and always engaging, and can feature multidisciplinary elements—including instruments, costumes, props, and more. Cultural arts performances and presentations are designed to expose participants to the art form and cultural content and inspire learning.

Example of Program Success

All of AFLCT’s work is grounded in the National Core Arts Standards; our performance programs are specifically designed to support student learning aligned with the Artistic Processes of “Responding” (Understanding and evaluating how the arts convey meaning) and “Connecting” (Relating artistic ideas and work with personal meaning and external context). This work is also conducted through the lens of Culturally Responsive Teaching, which ensures that students’ unique cultural references are included in their learning process. Teachers, administrators, and program directors across the state seek out these programs to inspire and engage, to create connections between content ideas and the community, and to offer new experiences and insights. Arts for Learning Connecticut regularly serves over 65,000 young people and family members annually through these programs.

Arts workshops and residencies

AFLCT also offers arts learning programs that are more specifically directed toward educational outcomes: arts workshops and residencies. These programs are often provided in more intimate settings—usually a classroom or workshop of 15-25 participants as part of a school or after-school program. With greater student-artist interaction, the focus is on collaboration and skill-building, in both the arts and possibly a non-arts subject area. These curricular-aligned programs can range from one session (workshops) to multiple sessions (residencies), and can extend across multiple weeks or even an entire year. Implemented by professional Teaching Artists, these programs are also broad in their artistic grounding, and feature a variety of specialities and disciplines across Dance & Movement, Literary Arts & Storytelling, Music, Theatre, and more. These programs are often designed in partnership with a specific academic focus, and tailored to fit the learning needs of the given community—according to age, ability, language, and more. They always engage students in the process of making art, teaching specific skills and encouraging original creative expression. Sometimes, these programs are co-designed and co-taught by a Teaching Artist and a non-arts classroom teacher: these arts-integrated residences offer the deepest level of engagement in arts learning.
Example of Program Success	AFLCT’s workshops and residencies engage the other National Core Arts Standards Artistic Processes of “Creating” (Conceiving and developing new artistic ideas and work) and “Presenting” (Realizing artistic ideas and work through interpretation and presentation). In addition to their grounding in Culturally Responsive Teaching and Universal Design for Learning practices, these programs are designed to encourage Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) for students and other participants. SEL is an approach to teaching and learning that centers inter-personal (between multiple people) and intra-personal (inside one person) skills. It acknowledges that “character development” is always at play in any educational experience, and must be prioritized and nurtured strategically in order to be the most effective. SEL gives us a framework through which to approach the development of “soft / non-cognitive” skills” that are sometimes taken for granted or even ignored in the teaching of “hard” academic or content-driven skills. Moreover, the development of SEL skills has been shown through rigorous research to lead to a wide range of positive outcomes—academic and otherwise. This is central in our work because the arts are uniquely suited to facilitate social and emotional learning due to the essential nature of the social, emotional, and communal experiences at the core of artistic disciplines and pursuits. AFLCT’s workshops and residencies have been used by schools and districts across the state to more deeply engage students in learning—in both in-school and out-of-school settings. We regularly serve over 50,000 students annually in this capacity, sometimes with dozens of hours of programming for each student served in the context of extended residency programs.

AFLCT also offers arts learning programs that are more specifically directed toward educational outcomes: arts workshops and residencies. These programs are often provided in more intimate settings—usually a classroom or workshop of 15-25 participants as part of a school or after-school program. With greater student-artist interaction, the focus is on collaboration and skill-building, in both the arts and possibly a non-arts subject area. These curricular-aligned programs can range from one session (workshops) to multiple sessions (residencies), and can extend across multiple weeks or even an entire year. Implemented by professional Teaching Artists, these programs are also broad in their artistic grounding, and feature a variety of specialities and disciplines across Dance & Movement, Literary Arts & Storytelling, Music, Theatre, and more. These programs are often designed in partnership with a specific academic focus, and tailored to fit the learning needs of the given community—according to age, ability, language, and more. They always engage students in the process of making art, teaching specific skills and encouraging original creative expression. Sometimes, these programs are co-designed and co-taught by a Teaching Artist and a non-arts classroom teacher: these arts-integrated residences offer the deepest level of engagement in arts learning.

Example of Program Success

AFLCT’s workshops and residencies engage the other National Core Arts Standards Artistic Processes of “Creating” (Conceiving and developing new artistic ideas and work) and “Presenting” (Realizing artistic ideas and work through interpretation and presentation). In addition to their grounding in Culturally Responsive Teaching and Universal Design for Learning practices, these programs are designed to encourage Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) for students and other participants. SEL is an approach to teaching and learning that centers inter-personal (between multiple people) and intra-personal (inside one person) skills. It acknowledges that “character development” is always at play in any educational experience, and must be prioritized and nurtured strategically in order to be the most effective. SEL gives us a framework through which to approach the development of “soft / non-cognitive” skills” that are sometimes taken for granted or even ignored in the teaching of “hard” academic or content-driven skills. Moreover, the development of SEL skills has been shown through rigorous research to lead to a wide range of positive outcomes—academic and otherwise. This is central in our work because the arts are uniquely suited to facilitate social and emotional learning due to the essential nature of the social, emotional, and communal experiences at the core of artistic disciplines and pursuits. AFLCT’s workshops and residencies have been used by schools and districts across the state to more deeply engage students in learning—in both in-school and out-of-school settings. We regularly serve over 50,000 students annually in this capacity, sometimes with dozens of hours of programming for each student served in the context of extended residency programs.

Higher Order Thinking (HOT) Schools

HOT Schools is a whole-school, deep impact, teaching and learning program designed to improve student engagement, enrich school culture, and expand teacher practice through performances, workshops, arts-integrated residencies, and teacher professional development grounded in Social and Emotional Learning, Culturally Responsive Teaching, and Multiple Intelligences Theory. Designed by the CT Office of the Arts (a division of the Department of Economic and Community Development) over 2 decades ago, HOT Schools was adopted by and relaunched within AFLCT in 2019. The transition of HOT Schools arose from a shared commitment to closing the opportunity and achievement gaps and using the arts to support school improvement, especially within BIPOC, rural, and socioeconomically-challenged communities. As such, we ensure that all partner schools enroll at least the statewide average of BIPOC and/or FRPL-eligible students, 50% and 45%, respectively. In the 2024-25 school year, AFLCT will run the program at 11 schools across the state, including: Church St Elementary in Hamden, Kingsbury Elementary School in Waterbury, Ashford School in Ashford, Roberto Clemente School in New Haven, Harding High School in Bridgeport, Regional Multicultural Magnet School in New London, Roxbury Elementary in Stamford, Concord Magnet in Norwalk, ACES Wintergreen Magnet School in Hamden, and Wolfpit Integrated Arts School in Norwalk, and Reed Elementary in Waterbury. The HOT Schools program is chiefly composed of 4 arts learning activities: arts-integrated residencies, performances, arts workshops, and teacher professional development. It is designed so that, over the course of a full school year, we can offer different levels of programming to different groups of students and teachers, so that, taken as a whole, the work has a meaningful impact on the school experience, writ large, through hundreds of hours of arts learning.
Example of Program Success	The following is the Executive Summary of the 2022-23 HOT Schools Annual Impact Report: Higher Order Thinking (HOT) Schools is a school-wide arts in education program of Arts for Learning Connecticut (AFLCT). HOT Schools was implemented at eight schools across the state during the 2022-2023 academic year, utilizing a variety of arts learning strategies to improve student engagement, enrich school culture, and expand teacher practice. This report—which includes detailed data in the form of survey results and analysis as well as quotes from diverse stakeholders—represents a continuation of the partnership between PERG-Learning and AFLCT, focusing on program implementation and impact during the 2022-23 school year. It is the result of significant collaboration, and builds on the work of the 2021-2022 developmental evaluation. The review of extensive formative and summative data confirms that the three main goals of HOT Schools—to improve student engagement, enrich school culture, and expand teacher practice—have been met in the 2023 academic year across the eight HOT Schools partner schools. Moreover, it is clear that the core programmatic elements have been implemented with fidelity and creative vigor, and that HOT Schools effectively supported Social and Emotional Learning and Culturally Responsive Teaching for the students, Teaching Artists, and educators who participated in the program. In addition, students discovered more joy in learning and enhanced well-being through the arts.

HOT Schools is a whole-school, deep impact, teaching and learning program designed to improve student engagement, enrich school culture, and expand teacher practice through performances, workshops, arts-integrated residencies, and teacher professional development grounded in Social and Emotional Learning, Culturally Responsive Teaching, and Multiple Intelligences Theory. Designed by the CT Office of the Arts (a division of the Department of Economic and Community Development) over 2 decades ago, HOT Schools was adopted by and relaunched within AFLCT in 2019. The transition of HOT Schools arose from a shared commitment to closing the opportunity and achievement gaps and using the arts to support school improvement, especially within BIPOC, rural, and socioeconomically-challenged communities. As such, we ensure that all partner schools enroll at least the statewide average of BIPOC and/or FRPL-eligible students, 50% and 45%, respectively. In the 2024-25 school year, AFLCT will run the program at 11 schools across the state, including: Church St Elementary in Hamden, Kingsbury Elementary School in Waterbury, Ashford School in Ashford, Roberto Clemente School in New Haven, Harding High School in Bridgeport, Regional Multicultural Magnet School in New London, Roxbury Elementary in Stamford, Concord Magnet in Norwalk, ACES Wintergreen Magnet School in Hamden, and Wolfpit Integrated Arts School in Norwalk, and Reed Elementary in Waterbury. The HOT Schools program is chiefly composed of 4 arts learning activities: arts-integrated residencies, performances, arts workshops, and teacher professional development. It is designed so that, over the course of a full school year, we can offer different levels of programming to different groups of students and teachers, so that, taken as a whole, the work has a meaningful impact on the school experience, writ large, through hundreds of hours of arts learning.

Example of Program Success

The following is the Executive Summary of the 2022-23 HOT Schools Annual Impact Report: Higher Order Thinking (HOT) Schools is a school-wide arts in education program of Arts for Learning Connecticut (AFLCT). HOT Schools was implemented at eight schools across the state during the 2022-2023 academic year, utilizing a variety of arts learning strategies to improve student engagement, enrich school culture, and expand teacher practice. This report—which includes detailed data in the form of survey results and analysis as well as quotes from diverse stakeholders—represents a continuation of the partnership between PERG-Learning and AFLCT, focusing on program implementation and impact during the 2022-23 school year. It is the result of significant collaboration, and builds on the work of the 2021-2022 developmental evaluation. The review of extensive formative and summative data confirms that the three main goals of HOT Schools—to improve student engagement, enrich school culture, and expand teacher practice—have been met in the 2023 academic year across the eight HOT Schools partner schools. Moreover, it is clear that the core programmatic elements have been implemented with fidelity and creative vigor, and that HOT Schools effectively supported Social and Emotional Learning and Culturally Responsive Teaching for the students, Teaching Artists, and educators who participated in the program. In addition, students discovered more joy in learning and enhanced well-being through the arts.

CEO/Executive Director

CEO First Name	CEO Last Name	CEO Email
John-Michael	Parker	jmparker@aflct.org

Staff Information

Number of Full-Time Staff	7
Number of Part-Time Staff	0
Number of Volunteers	25
Number of Contract Staff	150

Staff Demographics - Race

American Indian or Alaskan Native	1
Asian	0
Black or African American	0
Middle Eastern or North African	0
Mixed	0
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander	0
White	6
Other	0
Choose Not to Answer	0

Staff Demographics - Ethnicity

Hispanic or Latino/a/x	0
Not Hispanic or Latino/a/x	7
Choose Not to Answer	0

Staff Demographics - Gender Identity

Male	3
Female	4
I am: (Fill In Below)	0
Choose Not to Answer	0

Board Chair Information

Board Chair First Name	Board Chair Last Name	Board Chair Email Address	Board Chair Term Start Date	Board Chair Term End Date
Tim	Glasby	tgglasby@gmail.com	July 1, 2023	June 30, 2026

List of Board Members

Board Member First Name	Board Member Last Name	Board Member Affiliation
Robert	Duffus	Wilmington Advisors
Megan	Dawson Topliff	Megan Dawson Topliff Consulting
Jerry	Lambrinatos	ZS
Jesse	Imse	--
Samantha	Taylor	Bowdoin Street Health Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Eric	Yee	Webster Bank
Christine	Owens Morgan	McCarter & English LLP
Tiffany	Caouette	CT Association of Schools
Sumit	Mondaiyka	Liberty Bank
Nicole	Gamache	Slalom

Current List of Board Members as of	July 1, 2024

Board Demographics - Race

American Indian or Alaskan Native	0
Asian	2
Black or African American	3
Middle Eastern or North African	0
Mixed	1
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander	0
Other	0
White	5
Choose Not to Answer	0

Board Demographics - Ethnicity

Hispanic or Latino/a/x	1
Not Hispanic or Latino/a/x	10
Choose Not to Answer	0

Board Demographics - Gender Identity

Male	5
Female	6
I am: (Fill In Below)	0
Choose Not to Answer	0

Additional Comments

Additional Comments (Optional)

Annual Operating Budget

Fiscal Year Start Date	Fiscal Year End Date	Projected Revenue	Projected Expenses
July 1, 2025	June 30, 2026	$1,518,500	$1,512,744

Previous Fiscal Year Revenue and Expenses

Fiscal Year	2024	2023
Total Revenue	$1,294,191	$1,557,971
Total Expenses	$1,398,937	$1,343,964

990 Tax Form

2025 990 Tax Form
2022 990 Tax Form	Download
2023 990 Tax Form	Download
2024 990 Tax Form	Download

Financials

Financial Statements
Financial Statements	Download
Financial Documentation Year	2022
Financial Documentation Type	Audited Financial Statements
Financial Documentation Year	--
Financial Documentation Type	--
Financial Statements	Download
Financial Documentation Year	2024
Financial Documentation Type	Audited Financial Statements

CEO statement (optional)

General Info

Federal EIN Number	06-1009470
Organization's type of tax exempt status	non-profit
Website	http://www.aflct.org
Facebook	https://www.facebook.com/AFL.CT/
X	--

Our Story

Arts for Learning Connecticut’s mission is to inspire young people and expand their learning through the arts. We envision a future in which all young people in Connecticut engage in quality arts learning in their schools and communities that nurtures creativity, promotes cultural awareness, and cultivates critical thinking and learning skills. We envision a future in which Arts for Learning CT and our artists, partners, and supporters work in strategic partnerships to reach shared goals for young people and our state.

Our organization was founded 45 years ago with the belief that every child deserves the right to an education that fosters their creativity and allows them to experience and explore the arts. We are an affiliate of Young Audiences Arts for Learning, a national leader in arts integration, and have become the premiere provider of arts-in-education programming in the state of Connecticut. As an inclusive organization, our goal is to provide high-quality, arts-integrated instruction that is accessible, supportive, and welcoming to children of all backgrounds and abilities.

Each year our roster of 85+ teaching and performing artists serve in over 50% of towns across the state; in 2024-25, we reached over 73,000 unique students, providing over 130,000 student hours of programming! We are funded through both fee-for-service earned revenue and also grant-funded contributed revenue, and work hard to bring essential arts learning to schools and communities that might not otherwise have such resources; we are proud to enable tens of thousands of under-served children to experience the joy of performance, connect with professional artists, and see brilliant sparks of possibility.

Contact

Arts for Learning Connecticut

1 Evergreen Ave Suite 33
Hamden, CT 06518

John-Michael Parker
jmparker@aflct.org
Phone: 2036235068
http://www.aflct.org