What we do

Since our launch in March of 2020, the Creative Learning Network has offered rapid response initiatives to support teaching artists and creative learning organizations through funding opportunities, professional learning, and opportunities to connect with youth. Resulting projects made #ArtsLearningAtHome content available for youth, families, and educators. As our community of arts educators continues to evolve and change, so will the work we do to support them.

  • Professional Learning

  • Paid Opportunities for Teaching Artists

  • Learning Community

  • Networking

  • Compelling Arts Experiences for All Ages

  • Resource Sharing

Since launching in March of 2020, we have paid out over 160 stipends to local teaching artists in Southwestern PA, including 89 stipends for virtual content created by artists for students of all ages, and over 70 professional development stipends for artists furthering their careers. This translates to well over $50,000 in funds for local artists given directly back to our community.

Our Values

  • Arts at the Center: The arts are what we’re about.

  • Equity & Access: Centering anti-racism from individuals to institutional levels.

  • Youth-centered: Our end goal is high quality arts experiences that center youth voice and respond to/are informed by actual needs of youth.

  • Workplace Dignity: Creative learning educators and staff are respected and compensated in a manner that fairly values their true worth

  • Transparency & Rigor: We are open about how we operate and which best practices we uphold, holding ourselves accountable along the way

  • Collective work and responsibility: We are working together to address needs of the field while strengthening the arts ecology.

Who we are

Arts Ed Collaborative
Arts Ed Collaborative
We collaborate with educators to unlock the transformative power of the arts. Established in 1998, Arts Ed Collaborative evolved from the regional Arts Education Congress in Pittsburgh, where concerned constituents identified a need for coordinated efforts to sustain arts education in the region. Since that time, AEC has worked to form deep relationships with educators.
Bradley Hill
Bradley HillCreative Learning Coordinator
The Legacy Arts Project
The Legacy Arts Project
The mission of the Legacy Arts Project, Inc. is to preserve the history and traditions of African art as represented throughout the diaspora through education, instruction and interactions. The organization strives to share the presentation of art throughout the community in order to inspire the upliftment of individuals within the urban neighborhoods of Pittsburgh.
Linsey McDanielCoordinator and Legacy Arts Contact

Our Funders

The Creative Learning Network is made possible with the generous support of our funders. Their commitment to supporting arts education and willingness to respond to the needs of youth, families, and educators during the coronavirus pandemic is greatly appreciated.