We have a hopeful story to tell.
It is a story of possibility in which we can reach an inspired, connected sense of community using tools we’ve been taking for granted.

We are passionate about the arts — but not just in the way you might imagine.

Many of us are passionate about the intrinsic value of the arts to illuminate our inner life, bring richness to our communities, to challenge and renew our common humanity…but the focus of this website is to champion the vast instrumental value of the arts.

This is about the myriad ways we use the arts for community service, addressing our most pressing social issues. It is the underappreciated story of artists as social workers — also known as “Cultural Field Workers” — who serve the needs of our communities in countless ways.

These artists work in hospitals, prisons, schools, rehabs, homeless and domestic abuse shelters. They are therapists, urban planners, educators and civic leaders. They are the key to unlocking real results across every sector.

We believe that the arts are desperately underutilized for social impact work — a fact we aim to change with an advocacy framework similar to STEM, which transformed education priorities in the United States and around the world.

In the past few decades, we have seen the STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) become a central focus of education policy in the United States. By grouping these fields together with the STEM acronym, advocates were able to simplify their story about a set of educational priorities that would prepare the nation to thrive in a 21st Century economy.

This narrative shift has transformed our educational priorities and led to major investment in workforce development for these fields. Our website aims to create the same kind of narrative shift with the “R.E.A.C.H.” advocacy framework — transforming our understanding of the indispensable role the arts must play to create social and economic renaissance in communities across the country.

 …our communities.

We hope you’ll take the time to explore the framework below and to follow us on facebook and twitter where you can keep in the loop as things develop. We also encourage you to email :: [email protected] :: if you’re inspired to volunteer with us — or if you simply have an individual or organization that exemplifies one of these framework focus areas that you’d like to spotlight. Looking forward to telling this story with you.

“R.E.A.C.H.”
The Framework to Unite a Movement

Studies consistently show that the arts make communities safer, healthier and more prosperous – but despite the evidence, arts-based social work is widely ignored and underfunded with social workers’ jobs constantly at risk. We’re here to change this.

The R.E.A.C.H. acronym is a framework to advance the power of arts-based social work.

We are building a movement around this advocacy framework.

Here’s an overview of our five focus areas.