VISION
A future where education sparks innovation and ensures bright futures for all children.
MISSION
ARCK ignites creativity, cultivates well-being, promotes academic success, and nurtures social responsibility through its unique and proven arts-based educational framework.
Art Resource Collaborative for Kids (ARCK) is an innovative education non-profit dedicated to strengthening equitable creative education in under-resourced public schools. For over 12 years, we have used the arts as a vehicle to engage students in academic learning and cultivate essential critical and creative thinking skills. Our framework extends beyond traditional learning, fostering vital self-awareness, collaboration skills, and empowering youth voice through social action and innovation.
CORE VALUES
In the classroom and beyond, we practice the following core values:
➔ Safety We build trusting, open environments free of judgment.
➔ Equity We amplify diverse voices and abilities by centering wellness and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB).
➔ Collaboration We create strong communities through communication and accountability.
➔ Integrity We hold ourselves to high standards of authenticity, respect, and transparency.
➔ Innovation We use an innovative and interdisciplinary model rooted in the arts, wellness, mindfulness, creative thinking, critical problem solving, and social justice.
HISTORY
“It’s not only about visual art experiences. It’s about opening a dialogue between students and the outside world. Through an investigation of culture and the promotion of acceptance, we are able to expand on the idea of respect, self-expression, and support the development of informed, proactive citizens of the world.”
- Sara Mraish Demeter, ARCK Founder and CEO
ARCK is the brainchild of an immigrant mom on a mission. When ARCK founder Sara Mraish Demeter saw her son’s school lose its art program, she was compelled to act. Sara knew first-hand how important the arts are to young people. As a refugee and immigrant to the United States, Sara used arts and creativity to help bring stability, expression, and healing to her new life in a new place. Years later, raising her family in Boston, she could not stand by and watch kids have this life-altering tool taken away from them. And so, ARCK was born. What started in 2011 as a pilot program in one classroom of the Josiah Quincy Elementary School quickly expanded to the entire school. Over a decade later, ARCK has engaged close to 7,000 students, and is bringing arts education back to under-resourced public schools through its unique and interdisciplinary teaching model for educators - providing students with the creative thinking and social skills that advance their classroom learning and are crucial to their future success.