Our mission is to overcome cultural divisions by exposing public elementary school children to the arts and literature of different cultures as a key to understanding others and learning possibilities for creative participation in their own lives.

Our insistence on the inclusion of writing in the artistic process distinguishes VALA from other arts education organizations and provides a concrete opportunity to improve literacy through creativity within the public school system. Teachers have commented that children who learn to take seriously the art of writing significantly and often immediately raise their performance in other subjects, particularly those that are language based.

VALA trains teachers and guest artists in an innovative, cross-cultural, generative approach to teaching that emphasizes writing within the artistic process.