The Arts @ Large Learning Community is a diverse group of university students, teaching artists, teachers, specialists, K-8th grade students, professors and community members committed to using the arts as a tool for inclusive excellence by engaging in mentorship opportunities that connect the arts to academics and build sustainable partnerships between and within institutes of higher education, K-8 schools and the community at large.

The Arts @ Large Learning Community is comprised of four major groups

1. Artist Educators: This group of local, diverse artists/arts organizations will have multiple roles. They will provide artist residencies for K-8th grade students in 19 A@L schools, preparing the next generation of learners for higher education by integrating the arts into the classroom. They will provide hands-on, in classroom, multi-disciplinary arts residencies where university students will assist in the planning and implementation of projects individualized to serve the unique make-up of each classroom. They will also serve in an advisory capacity identifying opportunities within the community for various workshops, classes, concerts/shows, and professional development opportunities for the A@L Learning Community. Through university level programming and artist residency mentorship opportunities, this group will mentor the next group of the Learning Community.
2. University Students This diverse group of university students will be accepted into the program based on submission of an art sample (music, visual art, multi-media, performance, etc.), and an application explaining their desire to become a part of the A@L Learning Community. This group of university students will make a commitment to participate in classes/workshops, community events, and the mentorship program by working side- by- side with the group of Artist educatorsartist educators in the A@L schools. They will comprise a vibrant, supportive and diverse community on their respective campus dedicated to inclusion through the arts.
3. K-8th Grade Students & Teachers: A@L currently works in some of the most diverse public elementary and middle schools in Milwaukee and Eau Claire. Through a cycle of mentorship and arts experiences, this group of early education students and their teachers will be the future of the A@L Learning Community. Not only will these art experiences help teachers adopt inclusionary arts integrated academic learning into their classrooms, but the students will also grow as individuals, through close mentorship from both the Artist educatorsartist educators and university students.  K-8 students will see concrete ways to connect their experience to the pursuit of higher education and maintain this as a driving force through their high school years. 
4. Community at Large: This group will consist of parents, school administrators, teachers and specialists, university professors and administrators, community funders and many others that will help foster and support the initiative.

Levels of Artist Training:

1. Artist Educator -> Artist Educator: Each year a new group of multi-disciplinary Artist educatorsartist educators will join the Arts Wide Open initiative. The previous year’s Artist educators will work closely with the new group in a mentorship relationship to pass along the lessons learned from developing inclusion-based curriculum, working closely with teachers and school staff, and implementing visual, literary and performing arts projects in a variety of learning environments that reach a myriad of learning and physical abilities.
2. Artist Educator -> University Students: A@L will continue to partner with multiple universities (University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and Eau Claire, Cardinal Stritch University, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design) to help build a bridge between the local community and institutes of higher education by engaging university students in project-based mentorship opportunities in K-8th grade classrooms. niversity students will work alongside Artist educatorArtist educators during residencies as well as participate in a variety of workshops about ways to integrate arts into the classroom and other ways to integrate the arts into community activism.
3. University Students -> K-8th Grade Students: Through both example and classroom interaction, the university students will serve as mentors to K-8th grade students and show that the arts can be a catalyst for success from an early age and remain a driving force for students to obtain a college education.