Since its start in 1996 at UC Irvine, ArtsBridge has expanded to deliver arts curriculum across the country to over 300,000 pupils, professional support for over 1,500 overworked teachers in time of heavy budget cuts, and scholarship support for nearly 4,000 university arts students. Mounting evidence shows that artistic skills support pupils' acquisition of language, math, and science concepts.  The California information technology and entertainment industries rely on career professionals with sophisticated expertise not only in art, design, and digital media, but also in cross-disciplinary communication and working in teams.  Skills developed through the arts, such as creative thinking, problem solving, and collaboration, benefit children over the course of their lifetime.

UCSD ArtsBridge promotes locally-initiated arts education; consistent and sequential, hands-on instruction in the arts during the school day; exemplary models of arts teaching, particularly in integrating arts across the curriculum; and, professional development for public school teachers.  Programs are evaluated through peer review, and administrative costs are kept to a minimum.  The University of California, San Diego, serves the greater San Diego area. 

ArtsBridge benefits all of its partners: local K-12 schoolchildren and teachers and university students and faculty. Initial evaluations indicate that schoolchildren develop increased interest and abilities in the arts as well as growth in verbal and language abilities, concentration, classroom participation, and interest in attending college. Participating teachers express increased appreciation for and confidence in using the arts in their curriculum. ArtsBridge scholars report overwhelming interest in pursuing careers in teaching and involvement in community service.

The national network of ArtsBridge America programs brings the powerful arts resources of some of the nation’s largest public universities to bear on improved learning in K-12. ArtsBridge classrooms enable the study of learning in and through the arts, effective curricular strategies for improved learning in our schools, and ways in which arts learning contributes to the achievement and success of our children.