Arts For Learning NW

Arts For Learning NW Arts For Learning NW connects teachers and schools with professional artists to inspire young people and expand their learning through the arts.

15 percentile points. That's the average gain researchers found for students participating in arts education — in academ...
09/03/2026

15 percentile points. That's the average gain researchers found for students participating in arts education — in academic achievement, creative thinking, and social-emotional growth.

Real research. Real impact. This is why our teaching artists show up in classrooms every week.

📊 Wan, Ludwig & Boyle, American Institutes for Research / Wallace Foundation, 2018

Teaching Artist & Photo: Lulu Moonwood Murakami at Atfalati Ridge Elementary

School's back in session across the region — and we're thinking about all the students walking into a classroom for the ...
08/31/2026

School's back in session across the region — and we're thinking about all the students walking into a classroom for the first time this year. 🎒

That first year of school is huge. New friends, new routines, new ways to express big feelings. Arts education gives young learners a place to do all of that — creatively, confidently, and on their own terms.

This is exactly the work our teaching artists show up for, in classrooms across the region, all year long.

Know a school that could use us? Send us a message — we'd love to talk about what arts programming could look like for your community. 💛

Teaching Artist: Shoka Stonelake at Llewellyn Elementary

Back to school means a lot of things. For us, it means another year of watching kids find their confidence — sometimes f...
08/27/2026

Back to school means a lot of things. For us, it means another year of watching kids find their confidence — sometimes for the first time.

Researchers at the University of Chicago found that arts education gives students something special: a space to take risks, express themselves, and grow into who they're becoming.

That's what our teaching artists show up for. Here's to a year full of it. 💛

📚 Farrington et al., UChicago Consortium / Wallace Foundation, 2019

Teaching Artist: Beth Wilson at Kelly Creek Elementary
Photo: Jennifer Dankenbring

.wilson.art

Thank you to the Fred W. Fields Fund of Oregon Community Foundation for supporting Arts for Learning Northwest! 🎉This fu...
08/25/2026

Thank you to the Fred W. Fields Fund of Oregon Community Foundation for supporting Arts for Learning Northwest! 🎉

This fund has helped fuel arts and education efforts across Oregon for years — and now it's helping us keep bringing teaching artists into classrooms across our region.

Grateful doesn't begin to cover it.

📸photo: Ali-Olé at Bethany Elementary School💃🏻

08/22/2026

Can you make this face? 😲😠🤔

In this Copy My Face activity, Tony Fuemmeler invites kids to mirror his expressions — then pause and name the feelings behind them. It's a simple game with a real payoff: helping kids build the vocabulary to name what they (and the people around them) are feeling.

Big feelings, big expressions, big fun. 🎭

Watch more free activities at youtube.com/ 🔗

When a classroom feels like it belongs to you, everything shifts. 🌱New research shows that English Language Learners who...
08/19/2026

When a classroom feels like it belongs to you, everything shifts. 🌱

New research shows that English Language Learners who got to participate in expanded arts education felt significantly more engaged at school — more connected, more present, more themselves.

For a student navigating a new language and a new place, that sense of belonging can change everything.

This is why we keep showing up for equitable arts access — because every kid deserves a classroom that feels like theirs.

08/15/2026

Close your eyes. What do you hear? 🌿🎶

In this Sounds of Nature activity, Jessa Campbell invites us on an imaginary walk through a peaceful forest — using sound, stillness, and a little musical warm-up to help kids tune into their surroundings.

Jessa is part of ALNW's teaching artist roster with Jessa Campbell & the Saplings, a full-band musical performance exploring Pacific Northwest ecology — salmon migrations, monarch butterflies, and owls in the moonlight. Schools can book the full 50-minute assembly experience through ALNW.

Watch more free activities at youtube.com/ 🔗

We're powering potential! ⚡ Arts for Learning Northwest is proud to announce a grant from the PGE Foundation.PGE Foundat...
08/13/2026

We're powering potential! ⚡ Arts for Learning Northwest is proud to announce a grant from the PGE Foundation.

PGE Foundation believes in enriching life for Oregonians — and we believe that starts with giving every student the chance to create. This grant helps us bring hands-on arts experiences to more classrooms across the region.

Thank you, , for powering potential with us!

When kids get to make art, they get to imagine bigger futures. 🎨Young adults from low-income backgrounds with arts-rich ...
08/12/2026

When kids get to make art, they get to imagine bigger futures. 🎨

Young adults from low-income backgrounds with arts-rich educations are more than twice as likely to expect to work in a professional career — think law, medicine, education, management — compared to peers without that access.

This is what access to the arts makes possible.

Teaching Artist & Photo: Jess Graff at Imlay Elementary


08/08/2026

Five fingers, five stories. 🌸

In this Arts, Care and Connection summer activity, we feature Subashini Ganesan-Forbes — founder of New Expressive Works and a longtime friend to arts education in Portland — teaching us hand gestures (mudras) from Bharatanatyam. A flat palm becomes an invitation. A closed fist becomes strength and truth.

Watch the full lesson (English & Spanish) at ArtsCareAndConnection.org 🔗



Address

8911 SE Stark St
Portland, OR
97216

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+15032255900

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