In 2017, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts chose Bethlehem as the 24th site—and the first in Pennsylvania—for its Ensuring the Arts for Any Given Child program. The primary goal of the program is to assist communities in developing and implementing a plan for expanded arts education in their schools, ensuring access and equity for all students in grades K-8. Any Given Child Bethlehem envisions a learning environment where every child experiences, creates and values the arts.
Zoellner Arts Center at Lehigh University leads the initiative in collaboration with Bethlehem Area School District, the City of Bethlehem, and the Kennedy Center. It supports K-8 schools and the local arts ecosystem by facilitating curriculum-based arts experiences in community arts venues, providing community-based teaching artists for in-school and after-school arts experiences, and supporting arts-based professional development for BASD teachers.
During the 2026-27 school year, over 260 teachers will receive arts-based professional development across 8 schools, impacting over 2,700 students and BASD K-8 students will have over 10,500 arts experiences either in-school, after-school, or in community arts venues.
By Adam Ercolani
