NATIONAL SERVICE FOR CITIZEN-ARTISTS

ArtistYear Fellows Elisabeth Miller and Alex Williams share their experiences serving in Philadelphia!

About 11 million children live in poverty in the U.S.

Art is a powerful, evidence-based tool for helping address inequities. Yet art resources are limited for low-income schools. Want to help change this? Together, we can via a National Service Arts Corps!
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Meet the ArtistYear AmeriCorps Fellows!

Meet Zain.

A media artist and musician serving in the Borough of Queens, NYC.

Meet Spencer.

A Senior Fellow and creative writer serving in rural North Carolina.

Meet Kyla.

A performance artist serving in Philadelphia.

Meet Grace!

A Senior ArtistYear AmeriCorps Fellow

Artists Serving Our Nation as Teaching Artists

ArtistYear is dedicated to addressing inequities in Arts Education for K-12 students.

To ensure that every low-income student in America has the opportunity to reap the social-emotional and academic benefits associated with arts learning, ArtistYear created the first National AmeriCorps program for artists to serve to our nation.

We develop, support, and place exceptional Fellows as full-time Teaching Artists at low-income schools.

This innovative strategy significantly bolsters arts education for our most nation’s most vulnerable youth, while improving student academic and socio-emotional development, enhancing school climate and capacity, and developing a new generation of Citizen- Artists steeped in national service.

Join us!
What to Expect What to Expect

Senior Fellow Coco Allred meets with President Biden as part of his American Rescue Plan Visit to Philadelphia

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Crystal takes us inside her service year at Lighthouse Elementary in Queens, NY

“When my students had a rough day, I encouraged them to take it out on the dance floor, in acting class, or in our school play. The result? My students discovered that they have a voice, and their opinions and feelings matter.” Crystal Simon, actor and dancer, ArtistYear '18

“Recent graduates are looking for altruistic causes with a living wage that they can fully devote themselves selves to. A year of national service provides that sense of purpose. My peers and I embarked on this year of service because we believe that the Arts are an essential part of any healthy life.”

“My experience with [ArtistYear Fellow] Ms. Francois was the best in my life. I’m saying this because she’s never given up on us. She comes gets us out of our shells. I’ll never forget her.””

“Times of crisis summon our best instinct to serve one another. ArtistYear awakens that instinct through arts education and reminds all Americans of our common humanity.”

“We believe that the collaboration of ArtistYear AmeriCorps Fellows with certified arts educators for the delivery of instruction will result not only in growth of the school's programs and arts implementation, but growth of all of the individuals involved. ArtistYear's meticulous approach to matching ArtistYear AmeriCorps members with schools and educators will provide foundations for program growth that can live well beyond the member's year of service.”

“Every day we witness the power of the arts to transform children’s lives and are proud to partner with ArtistYear in extending that experience to more who cannot easily access this experience. The ArtistYear AmeriCorps Fellows joining us here bring to this community both the talent and the intention to make children’s lives better through art. ”

“The pandemic shocks to U.S. schooling have revealed two hard truths—inequitable access to high-quality online instruction for underserved students, and that most online instruction is not engaging, ignoring its young people's interests. Enter ArtistYear and its Fellows to explode with imaginative solutions to both failings. If you ever expected that young teaching artists might have the brightest ideas for transitioning to online learning—you don't know how right you were.”