Arts For Learning NW

In 2019, researchers at Rice University ran the largest randomized controlled trial ever conducted in arts education. 10,548 students. 42 schools. Rigorous experimental design.

One of their findings has stayed with us.

Students who received arts education showed measurable improvement in expository writing — the kind of writing where you have to say something, take a position, and defend it in your own words.

Not fill-in-the-blank. Not multiple choice. Your words. Your argument. Your voice on the page.

In an era when AI can generate a competent paragraph on any topic in three seconds, that finding hits differently.

The students who most need arts education — the ones in Title I schools, the ones whose access to arts outside of school is limited by income and geography — are exactly the students who most need practice finding and using their own voice.

That's what a teaching artist does. Every residency. Every week.

Source: Bowen & Kisida, Rice University / Houston ISD, 2019

🎨 artsforlearningnw.org

Another school year is coming to a close—and we're feeling every bit of it.

Hundreds of classrooms. Thousands of students. Teaching artists who showed up every single week—with their instruments, their paintbrushes, their voices, their vision—and changed something.

Featuring Shoka Stonelake, Lulu Moonwood Murakami, Inka Jam, Alex Addy, Mo Phillips, Beth Wilson, Mark Brody, and Kids Junk Orchestra.

And to all 120+ of our amazing Teaching Artists: thank you for another remarkable year.

See you in the fall. 🎨

IT PASSED. 🎉

Portland City Council just voted yes on updates to the Arts Education and Access Tax — and Portland's kids are the winners.

Here's what just changed:
✅ The arts tax is indexed to inflation for the first time — protecting funding that had lost 25% of its purchasing power
✅ A dedicated funding category for arts education organizations is coming — the ones putting teaching and cultural artists directly in classrooms
✅ The City committed to developing a plan for teaching artist programming in schools — naming this work as a City priority for the first time ever. It's a real opening, and we intend to shape it.

This happened because our community showed up. Teaching artists wrote letters. Families made calls. People testified. You made noise for kids who couldn't make it to City Hall themselves.

At Arts for Learning NW, we are ready to deliver. 40,000 students. 120 teaching and cultural artists. The infrastructure exists — and now, so does the commitment.

Every child in Portland deserves the experience of being seen, of having their culture matter, of discovering they have something to say. Today, this city took a real step toward making that possible.

Thank you, Portland. 💛

The numbers are in. And they're remarkable.

A landmark study tracked more than 22,000 students over 12 years. The finding? Students with high arts involvement were five times more likely to graduate high school than their peers with low arts involvement.

Five times. Not a rounding error. Not a footnote.

At Arts for Learning NW, we see this every day — in the teaching artist who makes a student feel seen for the first time, in the residency that keeps a disengaged kid coming back to school, in the program that gives a child a reason to picture their own future.

The research backs what we know to be true: arts education isn't enrichment. It's infrastructure.

📊 Source: The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth, National Endowment for the Arts (Catterall, Dumais & Hampden-Thompson, 2012)

Last week, Portland City Council ran out of time. The Arts Education and Access Tax vote got pushed.

But we're still here. And so are you. 💛

Tomorrow — Wednesday, May 13 — Portland City Council finally votes on updates that would:

✅ Protect arts funding from inflation
✅ Create dedicated support for arts education organizations
✅ Commit the City to keeping teaching artists in schools

This mural at Groner Elementary? That's what the Arts Tax looks like when it reaches a classroom. A teaching artist. A school-wide project. A permanent piece of community identity on a school wall.

Not every school gets that. These updates help change that.
Write to your council member today at portland.gov/council
Tell them you support the arts tax updates. It takes 5 minutes.
Portland's kids have been waiting long enough. 🎨

How do you visualize an ecosystem? At Groner Elementary, you paint one. 🎨🏔️
We are so proud to have facilitated a Right Brain residency featuring the incredible Christian Barrios! This wasn't just an art project—it was a school-wide deep dive into the structures of life in south Hillsboro.

From the neighbor’s sheep farm to the pumpkins in the school garden, Christian helped students translate their local geography into a vibrant, permanent landmark
Huge thanks to Principal Alano Ciliberto and the Groner teachers for inviting us to turn their life science curriculum into a community celebration.

Tomorrow is the day. 🗓️
Portland City Council votes Wednesday on updates to the Arts Education and Access Tax — and we need you to speak up before that vote happens.

You don't need to give testimony. You don't need to be a policy expert.

Just send a quick email or call your council member and say:
🎭 I support arts education in Portland schools
🎨 I want teaching artists in classrooms
🥁 I support the updates to the Arts Tax

Find your council member at portland.gov/council

It takes 5 minutes. It makes a difference. Portland's kids are counting on you. 💛

📸 Pictured: Carol Smith (President, Portland Youth Philharmonic Board of Directors & Oregon Symphonic Band Board of Directors), Briana Linden (Executive Director, ), and Jill Giedt (teaching artist & founder of Ballet the Black Way).

How DO we get Portland's "awesome" back? 🤔

We'd like to answer that.

It's the teaching artist in a classroom who shows a kid they belong on a stage. It's the program that brings ballet, drumming, and theater to schools that couldn't afford it otherwise. It's the community that shows up — at City Hall and everywhere else — because they believe every child deserves access to the arts.
That's Portland awesome. And this Wednesday May 6, the Portland City Council votes to protect it.

Updates to the Arts Education and Access Tax would:

✅ Protect arts funding from inflation
✅ Create a dedicated stream for arts education organizations
✅ Commit the City to supporting teaching artists in schools

Write to your council member before Wednesday's vote. Find them at portland.gov/council

Portland has always been awesome because of its artists. Let's keep it that way. 🎨🥁✏️
📸 and speaking at Portland City Council, 4/28/2026

Big news for Portland's kids. 🎨🥁✏️

Next Wednesday, Portland City Council votes on updates to the Arts Education and Access Tax — changes that would protect arts funding from inflation, create a dedicated funding stream for arts education organizations, and commit the City to supporting teaching artists in schools.

This is a win years in the making. And it needs your voice to cross the finish line.

If you're a teaching artist, a parent, an educator, or someone who believes every child deserves access to arts and creative learning — please write to your Portland City Council member this week.

You don't need to be a policy expert. Just tell them:
🎭 Who you are
🎨 What arts education has meant to you or a child you know
🥁 That you support these updates to the arts tax

Find your council member at portland.gov/council

Portland's kids can't show up to City Hall. But you can. 💛

📸 Pictured: Carol Smith (President, Portland Youth Philharmonic Board of Directors & Oregon Symphonic Band Board of Directors), Briana Linden (Executive Director, ), and Jill Giedt ( teaching artist & founder of Ballet the Black Way).