Local programs could lose federal funding under new budget WHAT IS ARTSREACH ArtsReach is a transdisciplinary arts / performance entity that integrates music, theater arts, dance, creative writing, and visual arts, and is offered as an after school program for children ages 6-18. ArtsReach is a structured tool that compels the recipients to create from within, therefore elevating their creative voices and building their capacity to shift their environments and communities. We teach music, dance, acting, speech, forensics (debate), visual arts, and stage craft that creatively address historical, social, scientific and economic matters with youth. Students write poems, narratives, and learn many alternative forms of communication. WHY ARTSREACH Performing Arts is a necessary tool for crime prevention. Persons that are taught how to employ the creative process within, naturally search for resolution rather than controversy. Opal Garland National Youth Network Studies indicate that Greater Memphis has a documented 170 Gangs with over 9100 Gang Members. As Arts in schools decreased, Crime in schools increased. Research has shown that people exposed to arts education have in- creased cognitive skills and social abilities. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES The Memphis Black Arts Alliance’s ArtsReach Program is a division of The Academy, a very successful multidisciplinary arts educational entity that has operated in the Greater Memphis area for more than 20 years. The Memphis Black Arts Alliance is dedicated to improving the quality of life and economic well-being of Greater Memphis through the preservation, celebration and advancement of African American arts, literature and culture. It is our vision to inspire justice, equity and sustainable community development through the arts. Our goal, with the ARTSREACH ASAP (After School Arts Program), is to take exemplary after school artistic experiences through music, multi- media, dance, theater arts, creative writing, visual and graphic arts directly to where the children live and play. ArtsReach ASAP was created to expand the young mind to search for alternative ways to resolve conflict, communicate, and avoid isolation which many times result in depression and substance abuse.