For the first time in its 65-year history, Arts for Learning is opening its doors to the public.
Arts for Learning, an Indiana-based nonprofit dedicated to providing schools, community centers, libraries and parks with arts education, moved into a new building on 10th Street in November of 2025 — just a couple of blocks from a few of the schools it serves. Now, in honor of its 65th anniversary, Arts for Learning is inviting neighbors and community members to learn more about its mission during an open house on June 27.
“We want to showcase that you don’t have to be a third grader to participate in our programs in a specific school; they can participate in them through parks and other public places,” Anya Aslanova, president and CEO of Arts for Learning, told the Recorder. “We want to spread our vision to the rest of the public, just so more folks know that we exist, and if they would like to support us in other ways, they absolutely can.”
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Created in 1961, Arts for Learning believes that “learning through the arts transforms lives,” and Aslanova said their mission hinges on bringing arts education to learning communities — whether that be in schools, community centers, libraries or public parks, basically anywhere learning is happening. Arts for Learning serves children from as young as three months old all the way through high school, and has more than 70 teaching artists ranging across mediums on its roster.
“We started out as a predominantly music organization,” Aslanova said. “Sixty-five years ago, we partnered with the ISO (Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra), and we brought ISO musicians into the schools to teach. The goal was to develop the next generation of arts patrons and expose children to classical music. As the world changed, we changed with it.”
Arts for Learning began expanding into other mediums as the education landscape changed and funding changed and arts programing began disappearing from schools, particularly in under-resourced areas.
“We found ourselves to be needed to close that gap, especially in those demographics,” she added.
Arts for Learning’s current mission stands on three pedagogical pillars: arts-integrated programming, social-emotional learning and anti-racism. What that means is that all programming is taught through the lens of the arts — such as using music to teach math, as that’s how electric violinist Cathy Morris is teaching fractions to fourth graders, Aslanova said.
All programs are also designed to address the social-emotional aspects of learning to provide balance, especially in a post-COVID landscape and all the educational challenges youth are already facing, Aslanova added.
Lastly, all programs are designed to be respectful to all cultures, meaning they don’t appropriate. One example of this is West African dancer Ronne Stone, who trained in West Africa and brought what she learned back here to teach Indiana youth.
“Our vision is that all youth in Indiana have access to education that is made whole by the arts,” Aslanova said. “We do believe that education without the arts is not whole. The arts close that full circle.”
Arts for Learning’s office used to be in the old IPS School 27, off 17th St. and College Avenue. The building was sort of a home base, acting as a “booking agency,” while their roster of teaching artists were out in the community. However, when Arts for Learning moved into its new building last fall, Aslanova said it “opened up a new way of doing business” for them.
“This is the first time in sixty-five years that we’re actually on the street, part of the community, and have a storefront. People constantly knock on the door and check with us, ‘Hey, what are you here? (sic) What is Arts for Learning?’ So, for us, it’s kind of a new era, to see how else we can engage the community that was not done in the last sixty-five years.”
Though the organization is still figuring out what its next steps will look like in this “new era,” Aslanova said they are already hosting more professional development sessions in the space and engaging with all community partners in the area, including Brookside School 54 and 1000 Words Inc., a Black-owned art gallery right next door.
A lot of the work Arts for Learning does is behind-the-scenes stuff, Aslanova said. They design programming, send artists to schools and community centers and help provide funding and support when necessary. It’s hard to show that to parents or neighbors, so the open house was the best way to “bring us to them,” Aslanova said.
The open house is a joint celebration of Arts for Learning’s 65th anniversary and its next step in placemaking, as the new building provides new avenues for the organization to engage with the community and surrounding neighbors. The event will feature performing artists, food trucks, hands-on art activities and an exhibit featuring works by current Art Force students, alumni, board members and teaching artists, set up throughout the Arts for Learning space and the neighboring 1000 Words Gallery.
Arts for Learning is also partnering with the recording studio and graphic design studio across the street to activate those spaces, and guests will participate in a community mural on the side of the building and a sidewalk chalk gallery.
Arts for Learning’s Open House and 65th Anniversary Celebration takes place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on June 27 at Arts for Learning, 3338 E. 10th St. The event is free to attend. For more information about Arts for Learning or upcoming programming, visit artsforlearningindiana.org.
Contact Arts & Culture Reporter Chloe McGowan at 317-762-7848. Follow her on X @chloe_mcgowanxx.
Chloe McGowan is the Arts & Culture Reporter for the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper. Originally from Columbus, OH, Chloe has a bachelor's in journalism from The Ohio State University. She is a former IndyStar Pulliam Fellow, and has previously worked for Indy Maven, The Lantern, and CityScene Media Group. In her free time, Chloe enjoys live theatre, reading, baking and keeping her plants alive.
