In 1999, ABIG Foundation asked Young Audiences, Inc. (YAI) , to determine the needs and assets of Miami-Dade County's educational and cultural communities. YAI's study found that the arts were being taught in isolation in the schools and there were not enough resources to reach every student with the intensity that studies were beginning to show made an impact on student social and academic achievement. The study also found that, while some of the larger institutions had educational outreach programs, most artistic and cultural organizations did not and most encountered difficulty navigating the school system in order to reach more students.
Arts for Learning (A4L) was started as a project (with Young Audiences, Inc. as its fiscal agent) in order to pilot what later became GET smART - a program for integrating the arts across the K through 12 curriculum. ABIG Foundation (now Assurant Group) provided a three-year seed grant to launch the program. Arts for Learning was then established as a three-way partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS), Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, and Young Audiences, Inc. and was incorporated as a 501(c)3 organization in 2001.
In '02-'03, A4L was asked to provide arts instruction in inner-city after-schools by Miami-Dade County Public Schools and in summer camp sites by the City of Miami. In '04-'05, through a collaborative grant from the Children's Trust to the Peace Education Foundation, A4L launched the early childhood program Start with the Arts. Arts for Learning is presently serving approximately 13,000 Pre-K-12 th grade students through its school, preschool and after-school programs.
Today, Arts for Learning is a non-profit corporation that is a resource and partner to any school or community learning center committed to using the arts to improve teaching and learning in Miami-Dade County.