From the humblest of beginnings in southwest Detroit in 1999, a small dance class has grown to serve more than 3,000 kids across the city and beyond with expanded arts programming. Alissa Novoselick, executive director of Living Arts, approximates that since about 2008, the operating budget of the organization has, like the participants, multiplied in number, from about $150,000 to almost $1 million.
“It’s not just play… but paying attention to the education they are getting and paying attention to the arts as the tool to learn,” she said. “We’ve worked hard to scale up and be a strong partner with the public school system and have really strong relationships with some schools that prioritize us in their budget,” said Matt Nahan, the chair of the development committee on the board of directors for Living Arts.
Through sizable donations from the Ford Motor Company Fund, the Social Innovation Fund through the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, the Kresge Foundation, Max and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation and others, Living Arts is celebrating its 20th anniversary of working toward addressing a shortfall in resources for access to the arts inside and out of education.
