Visual & Performing Arts
District Arts Office
Our Role:
Palm Springs Unified School District is an Arts Equity District dedicated to offering a comprehensive, inclusive, and transformative education through The Arts (visual, performing, and media arts). The district ensures that all students have access to creative opportunities that inspire and challenge them. Our Arts programs are designed to cultivate the unique artistic potential of every scholar.
The primary goal of the District Arts Office programming is to supplement elementary Arts education by building a solid foundation in both the skills and appreciation of the Arts. The programs emphasize creativity, self-expression, and cultural awareness. Through a variety of enrichment programs, students are encouraged to explore and develop their unique talents while fostering a lifelong love for The Arts. At the elementary level, programming is provided by Arts and Music in Schools (AMS) itinerant teachers, artists-in-residence, and community art partners. The AMS itinerant teachers are in art/music in Early Childhood, visual art TK-5th, Orff music TK-5th.
As scholars progress to middle and high school, the district continues to strengthen their artistic education. Schools offer beginning to advanced classes across The Arts disciplines in dance, digital media, music (instrumental and choral), theatre, visual arts. These programs have grown with the sites’ AMS funding, and are enriched through community art partners who provide students with real-world artistic experiences that promote collaboration, innovation, and critical thinking.
District Arts Office initiatives expose students to a range of artistic techniques while inspiring them to engage with The Arts as a means of personal expression, cultural connection, potential careers, and community impact. Through these diverse and intentional Arts experiences, Palm Springs Unified School District, and the District Arts Office, strive to equip students with the creative skills, confidence to excel academically and artistically, to aid in preparing them to thrive in their future careers.
Press Release -
The Palm Springs Board of Education at its meeting last evening asserted its mission to provide fair and equitable arts education and opportunities for all District students with the approval of the “Declaration of the Rights of All Students to Equity in Arts Learning.” PSUSD is the first district in the Coachella Valley to become an Arts Equity District. The declaration includes the District’s commitment to: equitable access to standards-based arts learning; the right of students to fully develop their creative potential at every grade level and engage in arts education that reflects, respects and builds on students’ culture, language and background; and access to arts learning programs and resources at grade every level.
PSUSD Visual and Performing Arts Coordinator Barbara Anglin presented the Declaration overview at last night’s meeting, which included information on PSUSD’s arts programs and partnerships, plans to develop a Strategic Plan for the Arts, and the District’s partnership with the California Alliance for Arts Education and Arts Now. Six District students, ranging from third through twelfth graders, each shared one of the declaration statements before the Board members gave unanimous approval.
Contact Us:
Barbara Anglin
Arts Coordinator
PHONE: (760) 883-2703
Michael Maloney
District Office Specialist/ Assistant to Arts Coordinator
PHONE: (760) 883-2703