Ignite the Arts in Your Community

Arts Ignite programs transform the lives of young people.

Students hold up a colorful sheet as one student runs under it, smiling.
Students work on painting a sign

Why work with Arts Ignite?

We work in close collaboration with our partners 

Arts Ignite programs are uniquely customized to both our partners’ learning goals and the lived experience of the youth we engage with. Our teaching artists are trained to deliver high-quality, arts-rich instruction across varied art forms, aligned with national arts and pedagogical standards. Together, we’ll craft a program that centers your needs and aligns with your priorities.

We build deep partnerships that last

Our work with partners is rooted in community; many relationships span over a decade. Our Arts Ignite students have even come back to work with us as professional teaching artists! 

Program Catalog

The Arts Ignite Program Catalog details our programming through workshops & residencies, arts camps, community events, and professional development. Our programs are designed to ensure that all young people have access to quality arts-rich educational experiences.

Our Approach

Our program offerings help build and sustain engaging partnerships

We pride ourselves on our ability to innovate, continuously learn, and adapt to any challenge. 

Community-Led

Our workshops, residencies, and community events prioritize our partners’ specific learning goals and outcomes. 

Driven by Justice

We believe the arts are a human right—and commit ourselves to accessibility, equity, and anti-oppression in all our communities, classrooms, and curricula.

Exceptional Teaching Artists

Musical theater? We’ve got you covered. Visual arts? No problem. No matter the medium, our teaching artists are exceptionally talented educators and practitioners, ready to ignite the arts with our partners. 

Innovation

Our flexible programming meets the many needs of our partners in multiple forms: in-school, after-school, virtual, hybrid, in community centers, or in collaboration with existing initiatives and organizations. 

Enduring Relationships

We invest in building deep, personal, and enduring relationships with our partners and the young people they serve.

Programs Standards Guide

The Arts Ignite Program Standards Guide is designed to ensure that all Arts Ignite programs are implemented and evaluated through our core values and mission-driven pedagogy to develop agency in young people through the arts by cultivating their creative capacity, sense of community, and individual courage needed to thrive.

 

A third party wishing to utilize any part of this Program Standards Guide may seek permission by contacting Arts Ignite at programs@artsignite.org.

Partner Stories

The Newcomer Youth Summer Academy partnership between Arts Ignite and the International Rescue Committee is a powerful alignment of innovative curriculum, critical pedagogy, equity-focused mission and values. My work with the Arts Ignite Teaching Artists prepares them to meet the unique needs of our youth, resulting in strong collaboration, student growth, and a solid program of arts learning, joy, and FUN!  

Dr. Chanelle Wilson, Arts Ignite NYSA Curriculum Specialist

Building a partnership: Arts Ignite and the International Rescue Committee

Arts Ignite and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) have been serving newcomer students at the Newcomer Youth Summer Academy in New York since 2010. We provide quality arts programming, including visual arts, music, filmmaking, storytelling, and dance to over 125 students from 30 different countries each year. 

Developing Community through the Arts

Through the arts, we welcome our youth to their new home in New York City and build a classroom community. The Newcomer Youth Summer Academy (NYSA) prepares newly arrived refugee, asylee, and immigrant children for success in the NYC public school system. We support them with English language learning, establishing classroom expectations, developing learning strategies, building student confidence, and promoting positive multicultural identities. 

Meeting partners’ unique needs through arts-rich programming

The arts have a unique ability to provide students with a creative outlet that is simultaneously fun and beneficial to their development. With the IRC, we incorporate the arts into the total student experience—including academics, art classes, physical education, field trips, clubs, Social Emotional Learning classes, and school-wide events. 

Students gets her face painted

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Become a vital part of expanding access to arts education.

Young person reaches up to put a paper star on the wall
Two young people leap across the room with their arms up

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