Budget cuts in the late 1970s effectively froze property taxes, which were the main source of funding for public education.  School districts across California were forced to cut back and arts education was stripped from most public school curricula.

It took a decade of deterioration before the public began to notice the negative impact that cutting the arts had on children’s academic and social development.
 
In the Spring of 1991, Paul Cummins, founder of Crossroads School in Santa Monica, was on his way to the kitchen during a potluck dinner and literally bumped into a man that he had never met but looked quite familiar – renowned musician Herb Alpert.  They began a conversation, which has become P.S. ARTS folklore… Paul decried the lack of arts education at a local school he had recently visited.  Herb’s response was, “You mean the arts are just gone from these public schools?  What if I gave you a grant?”  And thus, P.S. ARTS was founded as an outreach project of the Crossroads Community Foundation.  In 2003, P.S. ARTS received it’s own non-profit 501 (c) 3 designation.

P.S. ARTS’ education programs have had a powerful impact on tens of thousands of children and hundreds of classroom teachers over the past 19 years.