ArtStarts

ArtStarts in Schools is a charitable organization that works to expand the role of art in education to activate learning and nurture creativity in British Columbia’s young people. Since 1996 we have developed a solid ecosystem and proven approach to delivering the impacts of arts based learning for children and youth. Through our core programs and services we currently reach 70% of BC’s 1,800 schools and 600,000 students. We have a roster of approximately 170 professional artists (representing diverse artistic disciplines and cultural traditions) who offer their skills and expertise to inspire young people to learn through the arts.

Objectives in the first year

ArtStarts will focus in four areas with SVP’s support:

1. Engaging at-risk youth: partnering with 15 inner city schools and providing 5,500 students with transformative arts-based experiences
2. Fund development: training new Director of Development, designing and implementing fund development plan, and engaging board in fund raising
3. Administrative and IT systems: fully implement new IT systems to increase effectiveness and efficiency of admin work
4. Social Impact Measurement: establishing clear, measurable goals and developing evaluation methods to measure progress

SVP grant commitment: $60,000 in 2018 which includes generous co-funding from the BPS Wealth Management Group at CIBC Wood Gundy (represented by SVP Partners Geoff Bertram, Tom Porteous and Eric Southam) in the amount of $18,000.

Executive Director: Navida Nuraney
SVP Lead Partners: Larry Achtemichuk and Linda Louis