Grand Prize Winner of the Prebys SPARX Grant Challenge
Painting A Brighter Future:
The Expressive Arts Institute is honored to partner with the VAPA Foundation, the Grand Prize Winner of the Prebys SPARX Challenge, securing a $1 million award from the Prebys Foundation!
A New Chapter in Arts Education, Mental Health, and Community Collaboration
The VAPA Foundation is honored to be the recipient of the inaugural Prebys Sparx Award, a $1 million investment to bring transformative, in-classroom arts programs to over 4,700 San Diego students. In partnership with the Expressive Arts Institute and San Diego Unified School District, we’re embedding expressive arts into social-emotional learning (SEL)—redefining how we approach youth mental health support, while expanding access to quality arts education.
This initiative is more than a program—it’s a bold step toward a new way of thinking about school partnerships, public investment, and the role of community in student well-being.
Why Expressive Arts?
Expressive Arts offers students a creative, embodied way to process emotions and develop essential life skills. By blending movement, music, visual arts, writing, and storytelling into classroom experiences, teaching artists help young people strengthen resilience, build self-awareness, and find new ways to connect with themselves and others.
This program will:
– Train 50 teaching artists in a 60-hour Expressive Arts certification program
– Partner with 14 arts organizations to implement SEL-based arts residencies
– Reach over 4,700 students across 135 classrooms during the school day
– Prioritize schools with high absenteeism, limited mental health resources, and fewer arts offerings
– Support 14 community arts partners in integrating expressive arts practices into their long-term programming
A New Model for Partnerships
At the heart of this program is a belief that collaboration leads to transformation. We’re building a new model for how schools, teaching artists, arts organizations, and philanthropy can work together—not in silos, but in synergy. The VAPA Foundation is proud to serve as a connector—bringing together teaching artists, arts organizations, educators, and school communities under a shared mission: using creativity to strengthen the emotional and social fabric of our classrooms.
This initiative demonstrates that when we fund programs *through partnership*, rather than in isolation, the impact is deeper, more sustainable, and more equitable.
A Lasting Impact
This initiative is designed for longevity. The training and curriculum developed through this project will remain accessible beyond the grant period, equipping future generations of teaching artists and arts organizations with the tools to continue this work.
By investing in people—teaching artists, arts partners, and school communities—we are laying the groundwork for systemic change that will ripple out into thousands of lives, classrooms, and neighborhoods across San Diego County.
We believe this work will:
– Strengthen school communities from the inside out
– Provide essential mental health support in a joyful, accessible way
– Create new systems of collaboration between the arts and education sectors
– Spark a lasting shift in how we support student well-being in and beyond the classroom
Continuing the Conversation
We believe in transparency, collaboration, and community-powered change. In the months ahead, we’ll be sharing stories from the classroom, reflections from our teaching artists, and data that helps us understand impact in new ways.
If you’re an educator, policymaker, funder, or community member who cares about the intersection of mental health and arts education, we invite you to stay connected.
Let’s keep the conversation going—because the more we talk, listen, and imagine together, the more we can build a future where all students thrive through creativity.
