ETA’s 4 Year Plan model makes a multi-year commitment to partner middle and high schools to support site specific plans to envision and then implement high quality, sequential, standards-based arts education programs. Along with annual funding for each school of $15,000 ($60K over four years), ETA staff provide strategic support and guidance to school leaders and teachers as they devise new curriculum, develop partnerships with local arts/cultural institutions, support teaching staff, purchase arts supplies/equipment, and assess progress towards program benchmarks and goals. ETA staff provide hands-on consulting to ensure the 4 Year Plan is successfully executed. As each school has unique needs, arts programming is intentionally devised to address the social, emotional, cognitive, and artistic development of students and the cultural assets of the school community.

ETA’s Arts Internship Program (AIP) addresses the inequities of access for students from historically marginalized communities to paid, mentored internships in the arts/creative industries. AIP places 11th and 12th graders from Partner Schools as paid interns in 1:1 mentorship with arts and culture professionals. Interns work 3-6 hours/week during the school year (70+ hours), receive arts training, assist on administrative projects, attend performance and exhibits, participate in college and career workshops, and form transformational relationships with adults working in their artform. It is a life-changing, skills-building program for students that provides necessary, but previously unavailable guidance for achieving their college and career goals. 1,000+ students have participated since AIP’s founding.

ETA’s Partner School Network, comprised of current/alumni 4 Year Plan Schools, provides professional development workshops and supports Peer Learning Communities for arts teachers to learn from one another, problem solve, and access/share resources on topics such as arts integration, arts through a social justice/anti-racist lens, arts across cultures, and more.