The Arts are Important to Fresno County
Research shows that high quality arts programs offer incredible benefits to students, schools and communities: better attendance, higher grades, improved test scores, higher engagement, brighter job prospects, and more self-confidence to name just a few. Together, the Any Given Child partners and communities throughout Fresno County are committed to ensuring that every Pre-K-8 grade student in an Any Given Child, Fresno County school has a complete arts education as part of their ongoing public school experience.
The Birth of Our Initiative
In September of 2012, Fresno became the tenth national site for the John F. Kennedy Center’s Any Given Child Initiative. The vision of the Kennedy Center’s President Michael Kaiser is that an entire community should be engaged in addressing the need for access and equity to arts education for students across an entire school district. The Any Given Child program is designed to assist a community in planning strategically to provide a high quality arts education for every K-8 student using the existing resources of the school district, city government and the local arts community aided by the Kennedy Center. Because of the high level of community support and Fresno Unified School District's commitment to improving its arts education program, the district was encouraged to apply for this prestigious national program.
