We accomplish this by developing leaders, strengthening organizations, and advocating for community arts education. Our membership collectively serves 1.2 million students, employs over 16,000 teaching artists, and reaches an additional six million Americans through performances and exhibitions. Members include neighborhood music schools, arts centers, and arts education divisions of universities,
theater and dance companies, museums, parks and recreation departments and others. Current national initiatives and partnerships include the MetLife Foundation Partners in Arts Education Program, the Creative Aging Initiative and Engaging Adolescents Initiative, and the Community Arts Education Leadership Institute. The Guild partnered with the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Creative Communities, a $4.65 million, multi-year collaboration which provided arts instruction for children and youth living in public housing. It also received a Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1995 for its New Arts Schools and Centers (NASCENT) program, which provided seed grants, training, and technical assistance to support the start-up of schools in underserved locations.
