In today’s era of insufficient funding for public school education, schools are provided with very little if any funding for arts teaching faculty and arts supplies. By its very nature, a school of the arts requires increased funding for arts teachers, supplies and opportunities to enhance the advanced artistic development of its students.
In 1993, community leaders established the School of the Arts Foundation to raise funds to enhance the arts and academic programs at the Dreyfoos School of the Arts. The Foundation funds the needs and opportunities that the School District cannot fund.
This Foundation’s work supports the obvious– that a strong well-funded public high school that provides an advanced arts curriculum along side advanced academic course work, especially one that involves talented students of all socioeconomic backgrounds, benefits the students and Palm Beach County as a whole.
The Foundation’s is designed to free the faculty and students to expand their creative experiences and think “out of the box” regarding what is possible in a non-traditional public school and take certain steps – some great, some small – that will advance the level of excellence in both the arts and academics.
 The Foundation raises funding for supplies needed by the students in both their art and academic classes. Students are then able to explore new mediums when creating their art while tying artistic exploration into their academic experiences though hands on experiments in classes such as chemistry and physics. The continued exploration and demonstration of artistic and academic excellence will allow the school to continue to attract the most talented students in our community.
One of the Foundation’s most rewarding opportunities is to assist students who do not have the financial resources available to purchase necessary art supplies, benefit from private music lessons, participate in off campus learning opportunities at venues such as the Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall or attend a college audition/interview. The Foundation’s Ray of Light Fund has provided a hand up – not a hand out – for many students who otherwise would not have the resources.
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