District Newsletter Vol.3: 26-27

I grew up in a home where creativity was simply part of life. My parents were creative problem-solvers and makers. We figured things out, worked with what we had, imagined possibilities, and took pride in making something our own or finding a solution with the resources available to us. I did not realize it at the time, but those experiences shaped how I see the world—and ultimately how I would come to see education.

Starting out as a visual artist, I explored as many different media as I could and began combining them in a variety of ways. The artwork pictured to the left is one piece from a 12-part series, Discovering the Spaces in Between #12 (2002), created with chalk and black acrylic paint on oil board, measuring 7.5 feet by 4 feet. I have always loved working in a series because the work evolves over time—and so does the artist.

As an art teacher, I evolved over time as well, becoming a strong advocate for student choice and voice in the creative process. Now, as the leader of an open-enrollment, public school of choice, I believe deeply in student empowerment. I know the power and potential of creativity. The arts provide a way to connect, express, think, discover, and belong.

At AAA, we are preparing students for college, careers, and the expectations of the world ahead. But education should also help young people discover who they are, what they love, and what brings them joy. Not every student will become a professional artist—and that is not the point.

A student may become a doctor who paints, an engineer who plays guitar, a teacher who performs in community theatre, an entrepreneur who loves photography, or a parent who one day creates things alongside their own children.

We spend a great deal of time in education preparing students to make a living. At AAA, we want our students to excel academically AND discover something they love—something they can carry with them for the rest of their lives. We have a responsibility to help young people discover the interests and passions that can fill their lives with creativity, positive energy, purpose, and joy.

We are not simply providing an arts education. We are helping young people develop the creativity, confidence, curiosity, and joy to build meaningful lives.

That is an education for life.

And it is one of the many reasons I love leading Arkansas Arts Academy.

Why Northwest Arkansas Matters to the Future of Arkansas Arts Academy

Arkansas Arts Academy offers Northwest Arkansas: a tuition-free public charter school where rigorous academics and the arts belong together—and where every student is welcome.

We are not a school where students must audition to belong. There is no portfolio requirement and no academic entrance threshold. You don't have to have a certain GPA to enter, we only require an interest in the arts and a willingness to participate.

A child does not have to arrive already knowing how to paint, dance, perform, play an instrument, or excel academically. They simply need to take the opportunity, and every day, our students show us what can happen when that opportunity is provided.

Students travel to AAA from 21 communities across Northwest Arkansas. Students arrive bringing different cultures, socioeconomic circumstances, academic abilities, talents, interests, and learning needs. Within that diverse community, we are watching something amazing take shape.

• AAA has a long history within NWA. We are locally made.
• AAA is not operated by a state or national charter management organization. We are an single site (location) operator.

• AAA began as a merger between two existing charters in NWA. Benton County School of the Arts (est.2001) and NW Fine Arts Academy ( est. 2004)

• AAA is a unique, one of a kind model charter school- FREE to all K-12th grade students.

• We have both extraordinarily gifted visual and performing artists AND high-achieving scholars. Who demonstrate their excellence performances, creations, and the pursuit of advanced academics simultaneously.
• Students at AAA can begin concurrent and dual-enrollment opportunities as early as ninth grade.
• We continue to build out Honors Pathways- and now are working on an Elementary pathway to offer a advanced track into high school.
• We serve students who need something different than the traditional school experience—a smaller environment where they feel known, safe, supported, and encouraged to discover abilities they may not yet recognize in themselves.
• We serve students with a wide range of learning abilities, interests, talents and levels of creativity. Twice Exceptional.
• Our students are scholars, artists, performers, creators, and community contributors.

• We have a successful educational model orginating from the people of NWA.

• Our dedication has allowed our High School to receive recognition through U.S. News & World Report's Best High Schools. Arts and academics do co-exist!

• We are proving the ARTS and ACADEMICS = Success

We are proud of what our students and educators are accomplishing.

This year, AAA moved from a C to a B school district, increasing our Arkansas accountability score from 441.81 points in 2024–25 to 457.16 points in 2025–26. AAA results on Arkansas My School Info

Our ATLAS results demonstrate important academic strengths.

• Districtwide, 51% of AAA students met or exceeded grade-level expectations in ELA compared with 37% statewide,
• 56% met or exceeded expectations in science compared with 42% statewide
• AAA High School is recognizefd as an Arkansas GEM School because of the achievement in ELA on the ATLAS exam.

As a community partner, we need our community to celebrate our success with us. Help us spread the extraordinary things happening at AAA. Encourage students and families to tour and learn more about how they might thrive in this learning environment. Enrollment drives our state funding. With more funding we can offer more- and do more. We want to open doors—not close them.

Look at what our students experience...

They visit museums.

They attend live performances.

They work with professional artists.

They create exhibitions.

They perform on stages.

They experience visual arts, music, theatre, dance, culinary arts, and other creative disciplines.

They participate in immersive field experiences that connect literature, mathematics, science, history, culture, and the arts to the world around them.

We Are Homegrown

We were built here.

Northwest Arkansas families believed in this school. Educators developed it. Artists enriched it. Museums opened their doors to it. Businesses and organizations partnered with it.

And AAA gives back.

We are part of the creative and educational fabric of Northwest Arkansas.

And we want that relationship to become even stronger.

Northwest Arkansas, We Need You!

Imagine what we can do when our community comes alongside us.

Community recruitment for AAA can help keep public education dollars focused school choice charters in the region.

We are inviting Northwest Arkansas to invest in what comes next.

Help us connect with an arts patron.

Introduce AAA to a potential donor, foundation, corporate sponsor, or community partner.

Tell a family looking for something different about our school.

Share our story with friends and colleagues.

Attend a student performance or exhibition.

Rent and use our facilities.

Partner with one of our classrooms or programs.

And join us on November 7, 2026, for Celebrate the Arts, when we will launch AAA's first capital campaign. Our initial focus will include renovation of our Performing Arts Complex—a space that serves our students, our artists, our partners, and the wider community.

Most of all, become an advocate for something Northwest Arkansas created.

Northwest Arkansas built this with us. Now we need Northwest Arkansas beside us as we build what comes next.

Protect the Experience. Invest in the Future.

Thank you for all you do! I would love to hear from you.

Reach out anytime.

Dr. Allison Roberts

CEO/ Superintendent

aroberts@artsk12.org

AAA was honored by the Children & Family Advocacy Center of Benton County in September 2026 in recognition of our continued partnership.

CFAC provides incredible resources and support to our school community, including training, individualized counseling, professional development for teachers, crisis support and guidance during Student Study Team meetings with families, and so much more.

We are incredibly fortunate to have their expertise, compassion, and invaluable commitment to AAA students, families, staff, and our greater community.

Pictured: Lisa O’Neal, HS Counselor; Luke Boyd, ES Counselor; Dr. Allison Roberts, CEO; and Mark Evans, AAA Board President.

How can you help?

Buy a ticket, bid on silent auction items (like below), enter into a raffle for beautiful ceramic table decorations, learn about our amazing arts programs and donate, consider a sponsorship or purchase naming rights. Contribe to a generational landmark that will shape the future of our young creatives for generations to come.

As CEO of Arkansas Arts Academy, I spend a great deal of time thinking about what it will take to ensure the opportunities we are creating today are still here for students 10, 20, and 30 years from now.

The answer is legacy—and legacy is built through relationships.

AAA needs a strong, working Foundation with community champions who will help us build those relationships. I am looking for 10 people who are willing to open doors, make introductions, and connect AAA with individuals, businesses, foundations, and organizations that believe in the power of arts education.

We don't need volunteers who simply attend meetings. We need connectors and advocates who are willing to help us navigate philanthropy and build lasting partnerships.

Public funding keeps our school operating. Philanthropy allows us to dream bigger—supporting artists, instruments, productions, exhibitions, creative technology, student experiences, and partnerships that make an AAA education distinctive.

I know Northwest Arkansas is filled with people who believe in young people, creativity, and the arts. We need help connecting with them.

If you are someone who can open a door—or you know someone who should be at this table—I would love to hear from you.

Reach out and lets talk!

aroberts@artsk12.org

AAA offers a unique two-week fall and spring break within our school calendar. Our fall break is October 12–23, 2026.

As we begin planning for the future, we would like to reevaluate how our families feel about these two-week breaks. A survey is linked below to help us understand whether the extended breaks are appreciated by our families or create a hardship.

Please take a few minutes to complete the survey and share your feedback. Your input will be taken into consideration as we develop the 2027–2028 school calendar.

Thank you for helping us create a school calendar that best serves our students and families.

Thank you in advance!

Every so often, I read an article that feels less like new information and more like affirmation of the work we see happening every day at Arkansas Arts Academy.

In her article, “How Arts Education Engages Students More Deeply in Other Subjects,” published by The 74, educator Teisha Holloway shares a wonderful example from her photography classroom. When students needed to mix photographic developer, they had to calculate the correct ratio of powder to water. One student who struggled with mathematics suddenly saw math differently because he needed it to accomplish something that mattered to him.

His reaction says so much in just a few words:

“Who knew that art involved so much math!” — Teisha Holloway, The 74

That is arts integration.

Holloway argues that the arts give students opportunities to apply academic skills in new contexts while developing problem-solving, collaboration and adaptability. She writes that arts integration helps students “engage more deeply” in other subjects because learning becomes connected to something meaningful.

This Is the Work of AAA

At Arkansas Arts Academy, this philosophy is not an occasional project or enrichment activity. It is our instructional model.

Our students are expected to master rigorous Arkansas academic standards. The difference is in how we help them access, understand, apply and retain that knowledge.

A student might encounter mathematics through design, measurement, music or visual composition. Science can move into the studio, garden, stage or museum. History and literature can become performance, movement, visual interpretation and original creation. Students are not simply asked to memorize information—they are challenged to do something with it.

That distinction matters.

Arts integration does not mean making academics easier. It means creating more pathways into rigorous learning.

Holloway also raises an important equity issue: access to robust arts programming is often uneven, particularly for students attending under-resourced schools. She argues that access to the arts and arts integration should not depend upon a family's income or the resources available in a particular neighborhood.

This is one of the reasons I believe so strongly in the mission of Arkansas Arts Academy.

AAA is a free, public, open-enrollment charter school. There is no audition. There is no portfolio requirement. There is no academic entrance threshold. Students do not have to arrive already identifying themselves as artists—or already excelling academically.

They simply need the opportunity to learn differently.

And that is perhaps my greatest takeaway from Holloway's article. Arts education should not sit at the edge of education as something students receive after the “real learning” is finished.

The arts can be part of the real learning.

When students discover that math exists in photography, science exists in ceramics, literacy exists in theatre, history exists in music and problem-solving exists throughout the creative process, we are helping them understand that knowledge is interconnected.

Holloway concludes that arts education is not merely extracurricular; it contributes to developing well-rounded young people and can connect learning to future careers.

At AAA, we would take that idea one step further:

Arts + Academics = Acceleration.

Our goal is not simply to produce great artists. It is to use creativity, rigorous academics and meaningful experiences to help every student discover what they are capable of becoming.

And sometimes, that discovery begins with a student suddenly realizing:

I understand the math.

Recommended Reading: Teisha Holloway, “How Arts Education Engages Students More Deeply in Other Subjects,” The 74, April 9, 2025.

Read the full article in The 74

• Follow AAA on social media and reshare our enrollment posts.

• Invite neighbors to student showcases and the A3 Gallery.

• Send us your story—why you chose AAA and what you notice in your child’s growth.

Thank you for helping AAA ensure every student is seen, heard, and challenged through the power of arts and innovation.

Share this newsletter with someone who might be interested in AAA- or fill out the prospective family link. We would love to welcome your friends and family.

AAA is an Education Freedom Account vendor- Homeschool families are welcome to reach out and discover what courses might enrich your students educational experience.

Click here for more information!

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