From Las Vegas to Baltimore, schools working to expand arts education with local artists

ARLINGTON, Va. – Officials from 14 cities and school districts are meeting near Washington to compare their efforts to improve and expand arts education for K-8 students by tapping into resources from local arts organizations.

School districts from Sacramento, Calif., to Baltimore have joined the Kennedy Center's "Ensuring the Arts for Any Given Child" initiative. The program began with Sacramento in 2009, and officials say it has quickly expanded to reach 1 million students this year.

Candy Schneider, who has helped lead the effort in Las Vegas since 2010, says it's expanding from a pilot project to serve all the K-8 schools in the fifth largest U.S. school district. The Las Vegas Philharmonic and the Las Vegas Ballet are helping to fund and support the effort to expose all students to the arts.