Arts For All, Omaha, Nebraska - About Our Organization

About Our Organization

Mission

Arts For All is a dynamic arts education program developed to be affordable for all. We provide quality culturally enriched classes that encourage personal growth.

General Information

We have:

  • Multiple sites, mobile classes, a variety of classes offered at the same time, on the same day, at the same location at convenient times.
  • Opportunities for all ages.

Our classes include:

  • Planned curriculum, a variety of delivery methods, and sometimes multiple mediums.
  • Some classes accommodate and encourage parent and child participation, others are designed for different levels of expertise, some are age specific, and some accommodate a wide age range.

Costs and Fees

Classes are very affordable. Based on circumstances, discounts and payment plans are available. Some classes (such as art) require an $8 art fee. Most music classes require books; a low cost book is extra. We order, pick up the books, and provide a small discount.

Classes and Programs

Arts For All, Inc (AFA) is dedicated to making the arts available and affordable for all. Founded in 2006 with less than 400 students, AFA now serves more than 2,000 students each year through its affordable and free arts programs. Research has shown the significant benefits of arts education to include:

-“Students with high arts involvement have been shown to perform better on standardized achievement tests than students with low arts involvement.”

-Arts activities promote growth in positive social skills, including self-confidence, self-control, conflict resolution, collaboration, empathy and social tolerance.

-Learning experiences in the arts contribute to the development of academic skills, including the areas of reading and language development, and mathematics.

-Participation in the arts also is an important strategy for engaging and motivating students at risk of dropping out of high school and for those with special needs…”

  • Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development. Arts Education Partnership. 2002. ISBN 1-884037-78-X
  • Rupert, Sandra S., Critical Evidence, How the ARTS Benefit Student Achievement. National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. 2006. ISBN 0-9777050-0-5

AFA offers classes in the visual, performing, music, and communication arts. Public classes are offered five days per week at six locations throughout Omaha, Bellevue, Papillion, and Elkhorn. AFA’s different class locations and administrative office are generously donated or provided at a reduced cost. AFA employs more than 70 talented professionals dedicated to the AFA mission to provide quality culturally-enriched classes that encourage personal growth.

The cost of each public class is six dollars per week when students enroll for the entire semester. Scholarships and payment plans are available. Three semesters are offered yearly, six weeks in the summer, 12 weeks in the fall, and 14 weeks in the winter/spring. AFA serves students of all ages and abilities. Each year more than 2,000 students receive quality arts education from AFA. More than one-third of students each semester are returning students. Approximately 40 percent of AFA students are between the ages of eight and twelve. These students represent a wide range of ethnic backgrounds and household income levels.

Some AFA students are homeless, some come from very low income families, and some are only able to attend lessons for multiple children in multiple disciplines through the AFA program. “[I]t gives our children opportunities they otherwise would not have.” (Steven and Beckie Hill, parents of an AFA student April 2011) For this reason, AFA also works to provide a number of programs at no cost.

AFA offers an after school enrichment program to students at Omaha Public Schools. Students at these schools participated in classes such as ballet, art, piano, guitar, drama, photography, and more at absolutely no cost. Also, for six semesters, AFA provided a free early childhood music program and art classes for residents at the Open Door Mission / Lydia House.

AFA continues to expand collaboration and customize programs. This includes workshops like the AFA Film Workshop 2010, taught by the AFA Instructor, Director of the Omaha Film Festival, Jason Levering. As well as providing instruction for several organizations including Eastern Nebraska Office on Aging, OPS schools, Omaha Homeschool Learning Center, and more.

Remember, we are putting the arts back in hearts.