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Countywide Arts Education Infrastructure
Who We Are
In 2020, Arts Access Miami began with a bold idea: no single organization can ensure every child has access to arts education alone.
Instead of working in silos, eight nonprofit arts organizations came together to build a shared system that coordinated schools, nonprofits, government, and philanthropy around one common goal: ensuring every child has access to free, high quality arts education.
Today, Arts Access Miami unites 31 nonprofit organizations serving 72 schools and community sites, reaching more than 17,000 students every week. Through collective leadership, shared accountability, and coordinated action, we are building countywide arts education infrastructure that makes access possible at scale.
2030 VISION:
50,000 Students Across 342 Schools Every Week
Arts Access Miami is building a five region system across Miami Dade. North and South Dade are established. Central Dade launches this fall. East and West Dade complete the model. Together, these regions form one unified, countywide system for arts education.
60
Organizations
300+
Sites
100,000
Students per Week
5.2M+
Instruction Hours
2,500+
Performances
20,000+
Instruments in Schools
The Story So Far
What began as a pilot in North Dade and expanded into South Dade is now a countywide movement, growing year over year as more communities align around a shared vision for arts education.
This growth has been driven by strong outcomes in both North Dade and South Dade, including significant increases in student participation, reductions in absences and tardies, improved achievement in core subjects, and higher high school grade point averages.
From that initial collaboration, Arts Access Miami has built and scaled a collective impact model that unites schools, nonprofits, government, and philanthropy around one shared goal: ensuring every child in a community has access to free, high quality arts education. When coordination replaces fragmentation, access at scale becomes possible.
Proof At the Community Level
Our original alliance, now known as the North Dade Alliance, began in the Carol City feeder pattern, where, in its first year, weekly student participation in arts education tripled, increasing from 27% to 81%. Building on this success in North Dade, we expanded the model in 2024 to create the South Dade Alliance in Homestead and South Dade. This region posed one of the most complex environments in Miami-Dade County, with significant geographic spread and long-standing access gaps. Nonetheless, the model held strong. In just one year, arts participation in Homestead and South Dade feeder patterns nearly tripled, rising from 15% to 40%.
Arts Access Team
Alan Valladares
Director, Arts Access Miami
Andrea Botero
Director of Impact and Storytelling
Coco Brown
Operations Coordinator
Kwabena Bempong
Program Manager
Charles Spragins III
Marketing Manager
Executive Leadership
Sammy Gonzalez Zeira
CEO/Founder, Young Musicians Unite
Zachary Larmer
COO, Young Musicians Unite
Melanie Greenwald
CFO, Young Musicians Unite
Pedro Diaz
CPO, Young Musicians Unite
Luciana Pavan
CMO, Young Musicians Unite
Arts Access Miami is a division of Young Musicians Unite, which serves as the initiative's backbone organization by providing executive leadership, fundraising, finance, technology, communications, research, and organizational infrastructure.
Fiscal Sponsor
Rebecca Fishman-Lipsey
President & CEO, The Miami Foundation
Nikisha Williams
Chief Operating Officer of Collective Impact
Geryel Osorio-Godoy
Collective Impact Senior Manager
Consultants
Michelle Hospital
MMH Consulting & Evaluation
Lisa Martinez
LM Genuine Solutions
Adele Valencia
LSN Partners
Jared Rosenstein
State Lobbyist
Hello Insight
PYD Data
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