Enriching the Community Through Arts & Arts Education
Our Mission: To enrich our community by connecting and engaging individuals through arts education and artistic expression.
Our Vision: To inspire, ignite curiosity, and empower growth.
Core Values:
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Pursuing Creativity - expressing innovative ideas
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Seeking Growth - openness to learning and continuous improvement
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​Aspiring Excellence - striving for the highest quality
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Embracing Risk-Taking - having the courage to try something new
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Facilitating Stewardship - managing resources for the good of the organization
A place to thrive.
We educate, inspire, and shape our community through the arts. We help people of all ages be more creative and confident, which in turn improves health and quality of life. No other form of education or activity builds our mental, emotional, and social skills the same way—especially for kids.
Our History
Established in 1934 by Chester Wittell as the Wyomissing Institute of Fine Arts, the Institute ensured that children who lived outside the city of Reading, the cultural center of Berks county, had similar opportunities to experience the arts as those who lived in the city. After over 90 years and changes in name and location, we still strive to ensure that everyone in our community can experience the arts and arts education.
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In 2009, the Institute of the Arts celebrated 75 years of service to the community with a new name, the Yocum Institute for Arts Education. The name change honors long-time donor, board member, and community philanthropist, James H. Yocum, whose philanthropic focus was education. The name further defines the Institute’s core focus of education in and through the arts.​
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In 2018, the Yocum Institute for Arts Education moved into 3000 Penn Avenue in West Lawn, Pennsylvania. This site is ADA compliant, and features expanded parking, an educational theater space, the versatile black box Schumo Theater, expanded visual arts studios, the Holleran Gallery, six dance and martial arts studios for the Academy of Movement and East Coast Karate, a music wing for both private and group instruction, an arts-based kindergarten and preschool with a playground. This move has been pivotal to the growth of the organization and access to the arts for Berks County. Our current programs include our onsite arts school that annually serves over 2,500 students ages 2 through older adults through over 500 lessons and classes as well as over 2,500 audience members and gallery visitors.
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The heart of our mission-driven work happens out in the community: We serve over 5,000 individuals through arts and arts education programs throughout the community, often in partnership with schools and districts, libraries, community centers, senior centers, and other non-profits in our county.
What We Do:
We believe art is for everyone. We enact that through arts education experiences.
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We offer classes, lessons, and workshops on site in theater, dance, music, visual arts, and martial arts to provide arts education for students of all ages to engage in the arts and creative experiences. From toddlers to seniors, our students pursue their own creative process, take creative risks, and build their skills as artists and people.
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We also have the area’s only arts-based preschool and kindergarten program so the youngest artists can begin their journey of learning in and through the arts.
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We offer public performances in music and theater to share our work with the community and build community through shared arts experiences. We offer gallery space to provide opportunities to local artists to exhibit and community members to engage with art and artists. We offer student recitals and student showcases so our students can learn how to perform and share their work.
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We remove barriers to the arts by providing free or low cost, high impact arts education programs through the whole county, through partnerships with schools and districts, libraries, non profit partners, and other arts organizations.
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We provide over 100 arts jobs and internships in Berks County annually.