The Learning Arts

Nurturing Imagination and the Spirit of Inquiry

This division of our company has been at the core of our mission since the very beginning back in 1972. This is where it is our privilege to work with children grades K through 12 in their schools in partnership with their teachers and school leaders. This is where we learned most everything we know about learning and imagination. The children have been our teachers and our inspiration. They have been our task masters too and our greatest source of joy. Most everything else ASA is or does has its origins here.

Now in our 44th year, our programs, ongoing research and educational innovations are layered upon this most telling of foundations. It is here that the truth is revealed. It is here that our hearts and our values have been formed. This is the place where light and joy are the gift passed back and forth from the children to us and from us back to them. The giving and the sharing make us who we are.

Our brilliant and dedicated teaching and performing artists work in teams of three to five visiting schools for residencies ranging from a few days to an entire semester. Partnerships with teachers and school administrators guide the focus and planning of all of our offerings. Funding sources supporting our educational work have sponsored literally thousands of programs in underserved and disadvantaged communities.

The Learning Arts provides:

  1. Full-spectrum arts based learning for students and teachers, grades K-12
  2. Interactive concerts, workshops and customized learning experiences that support and enrich core learning and personal growth
  3. Interdisciplinary programs innovatively linking the arts and music with science, math, reading, environmental studies, language skills, history and social studies. 

The Learning Arts Website

Thematic Concerts

  • Music for the Imagination (I). (II)
  • Music as Story
  • Young Broadway, Disney and Classics
  • Animals in the Orchestra! Sounds, Songs & Stories! 
  • Opera for Young Ears and Big Imaginations
  • The Music of Birds, Wolves, Whales & Dinosaurs
  • Broadway and Carnegie Hall (I), (II), (III) 
  • Music of Myths, Fables and Literature
  • Sharing the Planet: Nature, Animals and People 
  • The Stars, the Planets, the Earth, the Oceans: A Musical Tour of the Universe
  • Freedom and Imagination in the Jazz Age & Beyond: The Emerging Social Consciousness
  • Until the Wind Sing It: Civil Rights & Human Rights 
  • American Music In Search of American Values 
  • Exploring American Poetry & Literature thru Music 
  • International Festival! Tasting a World of Music! Broadway Now!
  • Gershwin, Copland, Bernstein
  • Heroes, Villains, Lovers and Other Musical Creatures: Opera!

Workshops, Master Classes, Informances

  • The Pied Piper and Other Fantastic Tales 
  • Exploring Nature and the Seasons
  • Simple Gifts: Story Songs for Young Children 
  • Percussion Music Theater
  • The World Turned Upside Down: The American Revolution 
  • The Spiritual in American History
  • Battle Songs of Freedom: The Civil War
  • American Music: A Response to History
  • Sound Thinking: Music and Science
  • The Physics of Music
  • Good Decisions, Ethics & Courage in ‘Les Mis’
  • Connecting Musically to Visual Art
  • Leadership: Attitudes, Values and Skills
  • Public Speaking Success
  • Top Form: Habits of Excellence : Music & Athletics
  • Inner Balance: Managing Stress in School & Beyond
  • The Man Who Was Don Quixote: The World of Cervantes
  • Thinking in All Directions: Visual, Logical and Metaphoric Thinking
  • Vocal and Instrumental Master Classes
  • Percussion Around the World
  • Musical Interpretation: Taking a Point of View 
  • Introducing Musical Improvisation
  • Informances: Meet the Artists Informal Performances