Community

Starting Arts, a nonprofit organization, depends entirely on community support to pursue our mission: promoting arts education in public schools. 

In the year 2000, an anonymous benefactor approached Santa Clara Unified School District (SCUSD) with a vision: to revive arts education in local public schools. Starting Arts was created to make this vision a reality. Eighteen months into the five-year initial funding, demand for services provided by Starting Arts has far exceeded expectations. Our organization has gone from piloting classes at a single elementary school, to running arts programs at nine schools (seven elementary/two middle schools) within the district.

Starting Arts programs are hosted by SCUSD. Classes are offered to students on their own campus both during and after school. The district provides physical facilities and available arts production equipment at no cost. In addition, the City of Sunnyvale Parks and Recreation Department has provided free use of park buildings adjacent to schools. The generosity of these public organizations has greatly reduced operating costs of our visual and performing arts programs.

We support and are supported by the local arts community. Since the initial pilot program, our list of affiliated artists has grown from three to thirty. These artists are working professionals with a desire to pass on their skills to the next generation. They are drawn to Starting Arts by our commitment to arts education and high quality student productions. Starting Arts also collaborates with other arts organizations. Currently we are working with Cultural Initiatives Silicon Valley in a 5-year grant to help SCUSD integrate arts into its school curricula.

Corporate sponsorship is essential to the future viability of Starting Arts. It is our goal to engage local industry in creating a cultural and educational environment that attracts high quality employees - and keeps them in our community. We seek broader exposure through sponsorship by corporations with interests nationwide. We believe Starting Arts is creating a model for public school arts education that will work not only in the San Francisco Bay Area, but in communities across America.