Mission and Vision

The mission of the Salt Lake Arts Academy is to prepare students to become confident and creative builders of their future, equipped through the arts and academics to take responsibility for shaping their communities.

ABOUT OUR SCHOOL

Salt Lake Arts Academy was founded in 2003 by a group of educators and parents who saw a need for a small public middle school, serving grades five through eight, located in downtown Salt Lake City.  The founders' vision was to integrate the arts into the middle school curriculum to engage and motivate students, and to teach students how to access the rich resources of their city.  We serve grades five through eight, and students are admitted through a lottery.  We were among the first charter schools in Utah, and are chartered by the State of Utah, independent of any school district.  

As a public school, we teach the Common Core curriculum, enriched by integrated arts experiences. In addition to our academic faculty teaching Humanities, Science and Math, we employ four full-time Arts educators, teaching Music, Visual Art, Dance and Drama.  Every student at Salt Lake Arts Academy has at least one hour of arts instruction every day of the school year.

We are a fully accredited public school, earning our most recent Accreditation renewal from Advance-Ed in 2018-19.

Our school is managed by a volunteer Governing Board. The Governing Board sets policy for the school, hires and evaluates the Principal and Business Director, and ensures the school complies with all state and federal accountability measures.

Our students go on to both public and private high schools throughout the valley after graduation, well prepared for their next academic journey.