Arkansas Learning Through The Arts (ALTTA) has the mission to improve student achievement by igniting their interest in learning.   ALTTA creates and provides high-quality arts programs (two to four hours in length) to Arkansas classrooms from Pre-K to grade 12.  ALTTA engages professional Teaching Artists to inspire young people to learn via their art form.   Principals and teachers select from more than 50 curriculum-based programs that are aligned with Arkansas Curriculum Frameworks, especially in Literacy and Fine Arts.  The target is for each classroom to have arts-enriched program once in the fall and another in the spring.   Some schools achieve that goal in each of their grade levels.

For the 2018-19 school year, ALTTA provided over 900 hour-long sessions by ten teaching artists to more than 9,100 students during the school day.   During the pandemic, ALTTA successfully offered video and virtual programming for schools not allowing in-school visitors.  ALTTA currently provides these programs to five counties in Central Arkansas and the Delta targeting 35 schools districts and a cultural center.  A majority of the students live in rural areas and attend schools with a high percentage of students participating in the free and reduced-lunch programs.

Teacher feedback validates that students are indeed engaged and their participation increases while the Teaching Artist is in the classroom and continues after the program is completed.    Principals say that their teachers become more comfortable with the different art forms and incorporate different approaches of presenting ideas and concepts.  

Arkansas Learning Through The Arts was formed in 2012 as a 501(c)(3) in Garland County, Arkansas, founded by Martha Smither President, Tom Bryant Treasurer and Dorothy Morris Secretary.   There are currently 11 board members whose breadth and depth of experiences and wisdom have been critical factors in its steady and successful growth.   We are currently searching for an Executive Director to help us expand statewide.

In 2015, the organization became an affiliate of Young Audiences Arts for Learning which has 31 affiliates throughout the United States.  This network of arts-education agencies is an invaluable resource upon which ALTTA draws, both financially and organizationally.  

The organization is funded by the Arkansas Arts Council, Windgate Foundation, and other large and small family foundations supporting arts, education and the interests of young people in the state.  Schools pay a portion of the direct costs which are often derived from their Title I and IV fund allocations.  Additionally, individuals, service organizations and businesses provide important local support in the areas in which they live.   ALTTA intends to develop Leadership Councils in each geographic area served in order to facilitate building grassroots support for arts-integrated educational programming.