Purpose of HFA

Hayward Foundation for the Arts (HFA) gathers funds to develop and sustain the Hayward Unified School District’s program in the Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) above and beyond the level of funding provided by the Hayward Unified School District and other sources.  (That is, it is to supplement, not supplant, other sources of funding.)  To understand the purpose and importance of HFA, one must understand the importance of the program it helps to develop and sustain.  Hayward Unified School District’s program in the Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) emphasizes that creativity is a process that can be learned.  In addition to artistic technique, VAPA emphasizes respect for imagination, learning to work outside one’s comfort zone, experimenting and learning from failure, collaborative brainstorming and problem-solving, re-appraising one’s work, and persisting until the problem is solved.  The purpose of VAPA is not necessarily to prepare students to be artists, but to develop habits of thought and standards of performance that are characteristic of professionals, and that will serve them in careers, in their awareness of themselves, and in the world, throughout their lifetime.  The literature on the kinds of learning that VAPA provides indicates that students exposed to VAPA education do better in school, are happier and better adjusted, score higher on the SAT, are more likely than matched peers to go to college, do very well in college, have better paying employment as adults, love their work, and are responsible, voting citizens.  These differences are most pronounced for students from low-income families.  In other words, VAPA education levels the playing field.  Further, communities with intensive arts programs attract creative and productive people and become prosperous destination communities.  For more information about the HUSD VAPA Master Plan, click here.

Activities of HFA

HFA’s primary activities involve (a) making teachers, residents of Hayward, businesses, local artists, parents, students, and community leaders aware of the VAPA program and what it provides for Hayward students and for the community, (b) organizing fund-raising venues and soliciting funding locally, (c) soliciting funding from granting agencies that support the arts, and (d) administering requests for funding from VAPA programs within HUSD that fall within the VAPA master plan and are within HFA’s means.  The funding will go through the Purchasing Department of HUSD, and Purchasing will seek the best prices and quality and deliver the products to the designated instructional sites.