Friends of Sacramento Arts (FOSA), a nonprofit organization, is on a mission to ensure equitable access to comprehensive arts education in the Sacramento region’s public PK-12 schools. Despite national and statewide studies showing the academic and social-emotional benefits of a full arts curriculum, only one in five schoolchildren receives arts education on a regular basis. FOSA tackles this deficit on multiple fronts.  

“Since 2019, we’ve been addressing the lack of arts education by creating strategic partnerships and providing advocacy to educate parents, stakeholders, and community and education leaders about the importance of arts education in K-12 schools,” says Founding Executive Director Allison Cagley. “We’ve expanded to cover Sacramento, Yolo, Placer and El Dorado school districts and work with parents and school leaders to solve this.”  

With decades of experience in fund development and marketing for education and the arts, including years as development director for Broadway Sacramento and Music Circus, Cagley emphasizes the importance of Proposition 28.

“Prop. 13 decimated school arts funding decades ago, but now Prop. 28, the Arts and Music in Schools law, provides permanent state funding,” she says. “Parents and school leaders must recognize Prop. 28 as a game changer and implement it to increase arts education in all PK-12 schools, but especially PK-8 to initiate children into the arts as early as possible.” 

Not only do schoolchildren thrive academically, socially and emotionally with full arts education in schools, but robust school arts programs also benefit our entire community, helping draw new talent and businesses into our economy. Cagley concludes, “The arts benefit all of us and we welcome everyone to support our mission to put arts back into our schools at friendsofsacramentoarts.org.”