The arts can be a pathway to understanding ideas and subjects that extend well beyond the arts themselves. The Arts Integration Spark Award recognizes a project, program, or initiative that uses creative practice to deepen understanding of a non-arts subject, bringing together different disciplines in a way that adds something meaningful to the learning experience.
This year’s award goes to Arts for Learning, whose work demonstrates how the arts can be used not simply as a subject to study, but as a tool for exploring, understanding, and engaging with the world around us.
Arts for Learning
2026 Arts Integration Award Winner
For more than 60 years, Arts for Learning WNY has connected professional artists with students, educators, and communities across Western New York. Its Teaching Artists work alongside classroom educators to use music, theater, dance, visual arts, literature, and other creative practices to deepen learning in subjects beyond the arts.
That work begins with a team that builds relationships with schools and community organizations, develops strategic programming initiatives, secures funding, and coordinates Teaching Artists with educators. The result is programming that gives students new ways to engage with and understand their coursework.
The organization’s Whole School Partnership is one example. Now entering its fifth year, the program works with schools to integrate the arts into ELA, STEAM, and Social Studies through artist residencies and teacher professional development. At Perry Junior-Senior High School, Teaching Artists have used performance, writing, and other creative approaches to help students engage with English curriculum, while teachers have brought those techniques into other subjects.
In 2025 and 2026, Arts for Learning distributed nearly 3,000 Arts Integration Kits for free to under-resourced communities, giving families materials and guided activities for exploring learning through creative practice. Through their ArtWorks program, high school students participate in paid apprenticeships with Master Teaching Artists, developing skills in an artistic discipline alongside workplace and college-readiness skills.
For its work creating meaningful connections between the arts and other areas of learning, Arts for Learning WNY is the 2026 Spark Award recipient for Arts Integration.
“The Arts for Learning partnership has been an invaluable tool in helping us to keep our students engaged with Shakespeare and to have some fun with classic literature.”
