More Arts, More Kids

ArtsWave’s More Arts, More Kids is a grade-level field trip program. Every year, it provides arts experiences for elementary students at the Cincinnati region’s pre-eminent arts institutions — at no cost to the students.

The goal of the program is to introduce the arts to all young people, regardless of socio-economic status or neighborhood, and ensure their familiarity, participation, lifelong enjoyment and support of regional arts assets that belong to the entire community.

Arts field trips provide students with the opportunity to visit a museum, attend a theatrical performance and otherwise engage with the arts. They also connect students to people, places and ideas they might not otherwise experience. Such connections foster social emotional skills like tolerance, empathy and social perspective. Students who attend multiple fields trips demonstrate higher levels of school engagement. They show increased tolerance and conscientiousness. They even perform better on standardized tests and grades. Finally, exposure to different art forms at a young age leads to increased engagement in the arts in the future.**

In year two, we expanded the program to include more students and more schools, as funds raised from generous donors allowed. For the 2024-25 school year, more than 11,000 students experienced an arts field trip at The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s Young People’s Concert, Cincinnati Art Museum, and the Cincinnati Ballet.

ArtsWave continues to partner with our local schools and arts partners, expanding participation to ensure more students have equitable arts access to the world-class arts and arts venues in our region. We are excited to partner again this year with Ludlow Independent Schools in Northern Kentucky, Catholic Inner City Schools (CISE) and to announce a new partnership with Hamilton City Schools, Fitton Center for the Creative Arts and Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park & Museum in Butler County. Finally, we are happy to expand our partnership with Cincinnati Public Schools to include students in all elementary grades, from first through sixth.

Although our ultimate goal for More Arts, More Kids is for as many students in the Greater Cincinnati Region to participate as possible, we are slowly expanding the program to ensure its sustainability. ArtsWave works with the superintendent of each district to ensure commitment to the program. Individual schools should continue to book additional field trips from those listed above through our arts partners directly.

The Ohio Arts Council’s Big Yellow School Bus program helps schools and other educational groups defray student transportation costs to professional arts and culturally diverse activities. These early arts experiences create new relationships between Ohio’s youth and the state’s creative sector, and support in-school arts learning activities that are critical to overall academic development. Applications are accepted year-round, but need to be planned at least eight weeks prior to planned travel. For more information, visit oac.ohio.gov.

To support More Arts More Kids, contact Lisa.Wolter@ArtsWave.org.

* Peppler, K., Dahn, M., & Ito, M. (2023). The Connected Arts Learning Framework: An expanded view of the purposes and possibilities for arts learning. The Wallace Foundation.

**Erickson, Heidi H., Angela R. Watson, and Jay P. Greene. (2020). An Experimental Evaluation of Arts Field Trips. (EdWorkingPaper: 20-284). Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University: https://doi.org/10.26300/apg5-8s40