What is ArtsBusXpress?

ArtsBusXpress underwrites transportation, the ?missing link? that connects San Diego school children with arts and culture in the greater community, providing access to arts-rich learning opportunities in music, theatre, dance, art and museums at more than 174 regional venues.  The program serves 498,000 children in the 42 school districts and 646 schools of San Diego County.
How does it work?

Cutbacks in school arts programs and fieldtrip transportation are depriving children of critical experiences in the arts.  The problem is not unique to San Diego, but the solution is.  Currently ArtsBusXpress operates locally, but envisions a model that can be replicated across the country.

ArtsBusXpress actively seeks donations from individuals, business and corporate sponsors, community organizations, arts and culture partners, grant and foundation resources.   The program offers people a chance to get ?on board? with their concerns about the importance of arts in education:  the return on investment is knowing their support transforms children?s lives with the arts and opens new avenues to learning.

Teachers can find guidelines and apply on line at one central location:  www.artsbusxpress.org.  Schools contract buses according to district policies, and ArtsBusXpress provides the funding.

Who benefits?

San Diego children!  The arts play a formative role in developing young minds.  For some children, school fieldtrips will be their only opportunity ever to hear live music in a concert hall, feel the captivating power of a stage play or dance performance, or discover inspiring new worlds at art and museum exhibitions.    For others, school fieldtrips provide their first bus ride or first venture out of their home neighborhoods.  The magic lasts a lifetime.

• San Diego cultural organizations:  ArtsBusXpress grants deliver audiences for education and outreach programs, enabling presenters to cultivate future artists, audiences, patrons, and supporters.
  
• San Diego schools:  Bus grants provide a new route around insufficient arts budgets, enabling teachers to expand classroom resources by tapping into arts education opportunities in the community.
  
• San Diego work force: The arts stimulate imagination, curiosity, perseverance and achievement.   Research from the 2001 SAT shows that students with coursework or experience in the arts scored 32 points higher on the math portion and 34 points higher on the verbal than students who had taken no arts coursework.
  
• San Diego quality of life:  A dynamic civic culture needs to prepare young citizens-in-the-making for full engagement in socitety: today?s children will weave the fabric of tomorrow?s culture.
  
• San Diego artists and arts industries:  Their success rests in hearts and minds that discover the arts.
  
• San Diego economy:  Cultivating the creative potential of the workforce and the cultural diversity of the region leads to a healthy regional economy. 
  
• San Diego philanthropy:  Donors relish the opportunity to invest in their culture, the children they love and the arts they enjoy.

Who?s on board?

FOUNDING PARTNERS:  ArtsBusXpress began in Fall 2002 as an unprecedented local partnership connecting education, government, arts and culture, and the community at large:  City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, Community Council for Music in the Schools, San Diego Arts Education Partnership, San Diego City Schools, and San Diego-Tijuana Sister Cities Society, the founding partner. In July 2005 ArtsBusXpress announced is new status as an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.

ART AND FRAMING INDUSTRY:  AMPF/KOTONO, Inc., Art Expressions Gallery, Blick Art Materials, The Chase Group, Crescent Cardboard, Larson-Juhl, Lo-Forti, Nielsen Bainbridge, Once Upon a Frame, trade publications (D?cor Magazine/Pfingsten Publishing, D?cor and Style/2100 Publishing Co., Inc.), Winn Devon Fine Art Publishers, Wizard International Inc.; artists Uri Chartarifsky, Joanne Crosby, Leland Foerster, Robin Hall, David Lubbers, Stacy Smith and Ros Hill, designer of the ArtsBusXpress logo.

ARTS AND CULTURE PARTNERS:  Regional arts and culture organizations help raise money for transportation and encourage teachers to apply for bus grants; representatives also serve on ArtsBusXpress Committees: Advocates for Classical Music, Broadway/San Diego, La Jolla Playhouse, Mainly Mozart, San Diego Art Institute, San Diego Guild of Puppetry, San Diego Opera, San Diego Repertory Theatre, San Diego Symphony, SDSU School of Theatre, Television and Film, Triple Espresso, Young Audiences-San Diego.

BUSINESS/CORPORATE DONORS AND SPONSORS:  A-1 Plastics, Bazaar del Mundo, Biogen Idec, Brightchild, Inc., Carbon Copy of San Diego, Cloud 9, Crywolf Consulting, D?Armi Art and Framing, Dreams do Come True, Frazee Paint and Wallcovering, Jonathan Grissom, Esq., Ignite My Site, IKON Business Systems, Kleege Industries, Inc., Kleenhouse Building Maintenance, Inc., Metz Public Relations, Mex Art, Inc., Mrs. Burton?s Tearoom, Mutual of Omaha, Nokia, NPO Direct Marketing, Inc., Orfila Vineyards and Winery, Pat and Oscar?s, Postal Annex/Scripps Ranch, Qualcomm, Inc., Ryan Brothers Coffee Co., The San Diego Union-Tribune, Scripps Hair and Skin Gallery, Select Mailing, Sempra Energy,  Sir Speedy Printing, David A. Smith, D.D.S., Target Stores, Tender Nursing Home Care, Tomiko Restaurant, Union Bank of California, Waters Fine Catering, XLN Sites, Xpectrum Marketing Group.

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS: All Souls? Episcopal Church, Century Club Children?s Charities (Buick Invitational), Coronado Junior Women?s Club, Delta Chi Sigma Sorority International, La Jolla Golden Triangle Rotary, Las Patronas, LEAD San Diego, Point Loma Rotary, San Diego Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Soroptimists International of Coronado, Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS:  San Diego County Office of Education, ITV, San Diego City Schools; Mission Bay High School (students designed our award-winning website and donated paintings for our When I?m 64 fundraiser)

GRANTS/FOUNDATIONS:  B & T Associates, Burnham Foundation, Cush Family Foundation, Dickinson Foundation, Rice Family Foundation, Samuel I. and John Henry Fox Foundation at Union Bank of California, The Parker Foundation, San Diego Futures Foundation.

INDIVIDUALS:  Individual gifts honor special people and occasions, designate schools and arts organizations, and give donors a chance to invest in Today?s Children and Tomorrow?s Culture.
 

Where are we headed?

The San Diego region offers outstanding arts and culture possibilities for young people.  Examples:

MUSIC ? Choral Showcase, Cinco de Mayo Fiesta, Classics for Kids/Conga Caliente, Magic Flute, Notes from Paris; From the Top Broadcast, House of Blues, La Jolla Music Society/YoYo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, Mexican Music Festival, Pershing Middle School/The King and I, San Diego Mini-Concerts, San Diego Opera, San Diego Symphony/Young People?s Concerts, San Diego Young Audiences, UCSD Events, Vusi Mahlasela/South African Music

THEATRE/PUPPETS ? Asian Story Theatre, Balboa Park Puppet Theatre, El Cajon/Christian Youth Theatre, Fern Street Circus, Icarus Puppet Theatre, Joan Kroc Performing Arts Center, La Jolla Playhouse, Mandell Weiss Theatre, Mo?olelo A Piece of My Heart, Old Globe Theatre/The Grinch, If the Shoe Fits, Pacific Beach Theatre, Pershing Middle School, San Diego Center for Jewish Culture, San Diego Guild of Puppetry, San Diego Junior Theatre/Annie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, San Diego Repertory Theatre/Crowns, Lear on the Border, SDSU Theatre of the World Festival, Spreckles Theatre/Little Mermaid, Junie B. Jones

DANCE ? Ballet Conservatory, California Ballet, Dances of Nations, Classics for Kids/Firebird, East County Performing Arts Center, Nutcracker, Poway Performing Arts Center, San Diego School of the Creative and Performing Arts, San Diego Ballet, San Diego Civic Theatre, UCSD Dance of the Nations

ART/FILM ? Escondido/California Center for the Arts, Girls Film Festival, Kumeyaay petroglyphs/Mission Trails Park, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego Museum of Art, UCSD ArtReach, University Art Gallery SDSU/Visual Voices of SE Africa

MUSEUMS/EXHIBITIONS ? Art Expressions Gallery, Children?s Museum Kaleidoscope, Museum of Making Music, Museum of Photographic Arts, Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Natural History, San Diego Museum of Man, UCSD Institute of the Americas.

How are we doing?

Since launching the first busload of school children to hear San Diego Symphony musicians in October 2002, ArtsBusXpress has offered more than 100,000 San Diego children ?A Ride to the Arts!?  Our goal is giving all children in San Diego schools at least one arts field trip in the course of their education. 

How can YOU help?

YOU can get on board with ArtsBusXpress, too!  Donations keep fieldtrip buses on the road, giving up to 75 children an unforgettable experience in the arts.   Every $1 helps sends another child on ?A Ride to the Arts!? 

Please send your ideas and your tax-deductible contribution ?? payable to ArtsBusXpress  ? to:

ArtsBusXpress  2665 Ariane Drive, Suite 202A, San Diego, CA  92117
 
To make a credit card donation or to learn how your school can benefit, please visit our website at: www.artsbusxpress.org.  ArtsBusXpress is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, Fed. Tax ID #20-2793281.

For further information, please contact ArtsBusXpress: (858) 273-3500 or write to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Today?s Children ? Tomorrow?s Culture
www.artsbusxpress.org 

12/07