We care a lot about this community and about its health and wellbeing. So, the reason we’re involved with SPARK! is to help start up a creative economy here in Fresno.

The way to attract or recruit creative people is to produce more of them locally by making sure our students and kids are exposed to arts at an early age.

Arts education helps open up the creative corridors in the brain that produce the cognitive and problem-solving skills that all employers look for.

Because the more problem-solving skills you have, the more valuable you become. And if we start teaching kids those skills early, they won’t get left behind, they’ll get employed and become tax payers, instead of tax burdens.

We’re too hung up on instant gratification in education. But to be successful as a company, as a government, as a community, we need longer-term strategies that will let us look back and say that the investment we made in 2016 in the future of our kids resulted in a workforce with the creative talents needed to make Fresno grow.

Ultimately, arts education can play a role in developing safer, more successful neighborhoods in Fresno while increasing property values. That’s why we all should partner together to promote the arts and arts education to our students.

The Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation is a business organization that promotes economic development by helping small businesses grow and thrive in the central region.

I was exposed to classical music at an early age and I danced ballet until I was 15 years old. When I hear the music of Swan Lake, I still remember the steps I used to do, the pirouettes, and all of my movements.

When kids are exposed to the arts early, it opens doors to their journey in life. Dancing certainly gave me decision-making, communication, and creative skills. Everything I am now has a lot to do with how I was raised with music, arts and culture.

The key to attracting new businesses to Fresno is the quality of life; the arts, museums, culture, recreation, all of the things that makes people more positive, more engaged, and wanting to see their community thrive.

And, of course, when corporations look at our workforce, they’re looking for creative people who can make decisions and excel at what they're doing.

It’s very important for kids to be exposed to an arts education because it can be the spark to change their lives. That's why we should incorporate art into the school system; so it can create a legacy of success for our community.

At Wells Fargo, my community relations team works to make the company accessible to people who are poor or underserved.

I was born in Mexico and my family immigrated here when I was around nine years old and started at Del Rey Elementary School.

At Del Rey, I struggled to learn English. So, I began playing the trombone, which no one wanted because it was the ugliest trombone you’ve ever seen.

Playing music made feel more engaged with the school during a time when I couldn't connect with language. I became part of a group that was doing something positive in a place where there were a lot of influences to pull you in directions maybe you shouldn't go.

Arts education in schools is needed if we are going to have an economy that is created by entrepreneurialism and innovation.

Because when hope is lost for young people, involvement in the arts can keep them in the game. It’s a way to engage young people. And if you’re engaged, you're going to pay attention. You're going to care about your grades, about success in school, and hopefully, ultimately, going to college and starting a career.

I realize that what I do today, the passion and the skill that I do it with is rooted in my early experiences with art.

As a kid, I did art projects. I loved doing wildlife dioramas and I remember drawing a bird, which was kind of a premonition of my life in the future.

Here at the zoo, essentially what we do for exhibits is theater. We build incredible sets that show off animals because one of the best ways to get people engaged and passionate about wildlife is through storytelling.

I love this quote from William Butler Yeats: “Education is not the filling of the pail but the lighting of a fire.” Because, with kids, we too often just fill the pail with a bunch of information without inspiration.

An arts education can be the flint that sparks that fire. And when children explore the arts, they do better in math and science, as well as everything else.

For all the challenges Fresno faces, I personally think that an arts education is the ticket to economic upward mobility. It starts with letting children explore what they’re passionate about, whether it’s music or art, and we should absolutely offer these opportunities.

With so many ways to contribute to the success of Fresno, negating anybody’s passion for creativity and innovation is really short-sighted in the long term.