HSPVA FRIENDS
HSPVA Friends is the 501(c)(3) non-profit partner of HISD’s Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (Kinder HSPVA). Thanks to hundreds of generous donors, HSPVA Friends provides the budget for the arts curriculum, bridging the gap between public funding and the needs of a rigorous, conservatory-style arts program.
Since 1978, HSPVA Friends has collaborated with the school to achieve a shared vision: offering the highest quality tuition-free arts education to students from all across Houston. By providing dependable financial and program support year after year, HSPVA Friends has enabled Kinder HSPVA to remain at the forefront of public arts education in an increasingly competitive national field.
HSPVA Friends is a shining example of how a non-profit organization can partner with a public institution to provide an extraordinary educational experience.
Contact HSPVA Friends at info@hspvafriends.org.
MISSION
The mission of HSPVA Friends is to cultivate support for Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in order to enhance educational, professional, and artistic opportunities for current and future students of Kinder HSPVA.
WHAT WE DO
HSPVA Friends provides the everyday essentials of Kinder HSPVA’s arts curriculum that public funding cannot cover.
HSPVA Friends is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. It is governed by a Board of Directors and managed by a professional staff. Learn more about them. The staff manages hundreds of parent volunteers who provide critical support for fundraising events and programs, including the Middle School Workshops, MusicFest, and the The PVA Show. HSPVA Friends also manages the Kinder HSPVA Box Office for school performances.
The most significant investment is in people. Each year, thanks to generous donors, HSPVA Friends pays more than 150 adjunct faculty, artists-in-residence, and guest artists who deliver core courses in Kinder HSPVA’s six art areas: Creative Writing, Dance, Instrumental Music, Theatre, Visual Arts, and Vocal Music. These professional artists work with the full-time arts faculty to deliver the instruction and experiences that prepare Houston students for the nation’s top colleges, conservatories, and professional careers. Private funds cultivated by HSPVA Friends also fund daily classroom supplies, specialized equipment and technology, scholarships for summer programs and private lessons, and capital improvements.
Since 1978, HSPVA Friends has secured millions of dollars in private support from individual donors, foundations, and corporations. This unique public-private partnership ensures that Houston’s young artists continue to have access to the finest tuition-free arts education in the nation.
VALUES
We exist to serve Kinder HSPVA. Program funds raised and managed by HSPVA Friends are spent at the discretion of the faculty and staff. The teachers are curriculum experts. They know what supplies, equipment, and teaching artists will help current students succeed.
We provide budget stability with sustainable growth. While providing for Kinder HSPVA’s immediate needs, the HSPVA Friends staff and Board work together to prepare for the school’s future financial needs, creating fundraising goals with the next year—and decade—in mind.
Parent involvement is essential. Every parent at Kinder HSPVA is welcome and invited to participate in HSPVA Friends activities, regardless of their ability to contribute financially. HSPVA Friends organizes parent volunteers by art area to create opportunities for parents to learn from each other as they become active supporters of their child’s specific curriculum.
Every Kinder HSPVA student deserves access to the highest level of arts education. HSPVA Friends shares HISD’s value of equity. We recognize that students have different circumstances and need different resources to achieve the same outcome. To that end, in addition to providing art area and school-wide project budgets, HSPVA Friends provides scholarships and financial aid for art area supplies, private lessons, summer programs, field trips, and college audition trips.
The arts are intrinsically valuable and worthy of the support they require. Each of the school’s six art areas is unique and requires unique volunteer, administrative, and financial resources to thrive. With that in mind, we work with the teachers and principal to create custom budgets and fundraising calendars for each of Kinder HSPVA’s programs. We also support the teachers’ commitment to a school culture in which artists—from renowned masterclass instructors to current students managing their own gigs—are fairly compensated.
HISTORY
Like the school it supports, HSPVA Friends was one of the first institutions of its kind. It began in 1978 as MusicFest, a forward-thinking group of volunteers awarding scholarships to students at The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. In 1997, MusicFest was renamed HSPVA Friends and embraced a profound mission expansion in order to address a broad range of needs at the school, including specialized equipment, masterclasses and guest artist residencies, production support, and the school’s participation in national art conferences and competitions. In the years that followed, HSPVA Friends became an inspiration and model for other arts school support organizations and continues to set the standard for public-private partnerships in arts education today.