Dear Friends,

This year, we entered the 75th year of Arts for Learning Maryland! That’s 75 years of introducing students to new ways of thinking and learning, and connecting Maryland artists with meaningful work. We got to this moment together.

Our community of artists, educators, students, families, and supporters helps to ensure opportunity reaches every student, fueling joy in classrooms, making learning accessible, and proving every day that what we are doing in Maryland schools works. This year, your partnership is carrying us forward during moments of real challenge.

Despite federal cuts that led to the overnight elimination of our afterschool program, this community came together to ensure continued operation for our children and families.

Despite a 50% reduction in funding for our Summer Arts for Learning Academy, we restored the program and served a record number of students, including 250 young people in Baltimore City’s Extended School Year program. We partnered with the Maryland State Department of Education to host our first-ever Maryland Principal Arts Symposium, connecting 39 educational leaders from across the state with arts-based practices to bring back to their schools.

We served 140,910 students through 628,858 hours of learning in, through, and about the arts. And, after five years of planning, our vision for an artist-integrated neighborhood charter school–built on our award-winning summer model–was approved in Baltimore City. Dream Academy Charter School will open for the 2026–2027 school year!

None of this would be possible without you, our community, helping us create more learning for students, more work for artists, and more support for educators as we move forward together. We are deeply grateful.

Stacie Sanders Evans
President & CEO