Our Mission

Leap's mission is to stimulate imagination and creativity in Bay Area children by bringing visual and performing artists and architects into the classroom for extended residencies. Leap artists and architects team with teachers to design participatory projects that augment and amplify the school's curriculum. Our purpose is to interweave all aspects of learning with the creative process.

Our History

Leap ... imagination in learning is a private nonprofit organization founded in 1979 as a response to the passing of California Proposition 13, which dramatically reduced state funding for education and effectively eliminated the arts from public elementary schools.
Led by the efforts of Founder Daniel J. Sullivan and Founding Director Trudy Zimmerman, Leap served 180 children in one school in its first year with hands on experiences in the arts. Encouraged by the positive changes witnessed in the pilot program and by the overwhelming response from the community, Leap expanded its programs and a dynamic group of teaching artists joined the Leap roster to provide innovative arts instruction in their specific area of expertise. Residencies took place in more schools with each passing year, and covered a wide range of artistic disciplines, including: painting, sculpture, murals, storytelling, theater, multi-media, music, and dance. In 1985, Leap initiated its Architects in Schools program in collaboration with the American Institute of Architects, the first ever in the Bay Area. In 1987, Leap was the first arts education organization to receive the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Business/Arts Award for Excellence, in recognition of the impact its programs have had on a generation of San Francisco Bay Area children.
Today, Leap’s Art and Architecture residency programs provide thousands of elementary and middle school students with hands-on learning experiences in art and architecture that enhance their overall education and prepare them for future success in school and in their communities. The requests for the programs continue to grow, and Leap is continually enhancing its programs to meet the demands and needs of children, parents and teachers of the San Francisco Bay Area.