Our New Name
Our New Name + Brand Story
Baltimore, 1950
ABOUT THIS IMAGE: Mrs. Nina Collier (upper right), founder of the Young Musicians' Series, smiles as she watches children plead for autographs from viola-violin duo Joseph Fuchs (upper left) and Lillian Fuchs (right center) after a concert at the Baltimore Museum of Art. (Photo by Dunaway, The Baltimore Sun)
Seventy-one years ago,
Nina Collier ignited the first spark with a question: "Why can't we bring professional musicians into our schools to introduce children to the joy of classical music?" She answered by founding the Young Musicians' Series with live chamber concerts performed by professional musicians in Baltimore schools.
This music series in 1950 marked the beginning of Young Audiences of Maryland.
Nina couldn't have imagined how revolutionary her vision would be.
Over the next 70 years, hundreds of thousands of students across Maryland would find joy in using their creativity—or discovering it! Professional musicians, actors, poets, visual artists, and dancers would partner with educators to collaborate and co-create dynamic, arts-integrated learning experiences for students.
Today, working side by side with artists, students find their unique voices through the arts and honor their individual creative processes while working in community with one another.
And principals and school district leaders see the transformational power that arts-integrated learning has on academic achievement and on supporting authentic social and emotional growth.
With this evolution has come a realization: our name, Young Audiences, no longer feels right. It isn't reflective of who we are… or why we are. While it speaks to our wonderful, rich history, it is inaccurate and limiting.
Our work is not passive. It's collaborative. Students are no longer just audience members. They participate and perform, create and compose, explore and engage.
We decided our name needs to reflect this evolution.
In multiple creative brainstorming workshops beginning in 2019, board members, staff, artists, educators, students, donors, and community and education leaders convened and identified—and often reaffirmed—our universal truths: The arts transform lives. Integrating the arts with academic learning produces powerful results.
Throughout this process, it became clear that the words that best describe us were already with us.
They have honesty and directness. They are understandable and descriptive. They mean something. They are "arts for learning."
Young Audiences of Maryland is now Arts for Learning Maryland.
This is the right name for who we are and the exciting journey we're on—perfectly uniting the meaningful "what," the creative "how," and the important "why" of our work. We believe the arts are for learning.
And by adopting part of our previous name as our full name, we're honoring our history and affiliation with Young Audiences/Arts for Learning, the nation's oldest and largest arts-in-education learning network.
While our name has changed, our mission and impact remain the same:
We believe unwaveringly that by connecting educators, professional artists, and communities, we can transform the lives and education of our youth.
Our new name is represented in a bold new logo inspired by our mission and our promise for the future.
The sun symbol has evolved into a radiating and joyful kaleidoscope, reflecting the diversity of our community and the spark we create for learning.
The Arts for Learning icon uses a combination of cyan, magenta, and yellow to achieve a full spectrum effect that builds on our color history to create a joyful, inclusive future.
