ABOUT DAYSPRING
WHO WE ARE
DaySpring Arts and DaySpring Academy function collaboratively, with shared facilities and resources, to serve our Academy and Arts students alike:
Through excellent training in the arts and innovative academic education, reflecting God’s love and welcoming all, DaySpring equips our students to use their creativity and skills effectively in their lives, enriching the community.
Our vision is to build strong foundations in the lives of all members of our community, so that they may enjoy, celebrate, and utilize their fully developed gifts for a lifetime.
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Our students will enrich their communities by demonstrating how to live with excellent character and skill, enhanced creativity, critical thought, collaboration, and passion for their calling.
Excellence in relationships, attitudes and character, artistry and performance, technique and skill, and in the learning environment.
Character Development, building foundations of self discipline, responsibility, kindness, confidence, respect, service, and leadership.
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Skills that equip all in the community for any path they choose: technique, communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and an attitude of contribution to the community.
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Community, creating a diverse culture that is engaging, serving, partnering, and providing experiences to enrich all.
DaySpring celebrates the wonderful diversity of God’s creation, encouraging respect for differences and compassion for all, welcoming everyone to grow and learn together, enriching our diverse St. Louis community with their gifts and skills.
Our Educational Philosophy
We believe teaching skills, such as creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and effective communication, equips students for success in whatever they do beyond school.
We believe education should be dynamic, alive and relevant to students.
Our teaching style and curriculum choices reflect these beliefs. We aim to provide a creative, challenging and comprehensive education with a hands-on, problem solving approach, becoming increasingly structured in the upper levels to prepare the students for continued success.
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We create lessons that have students moving, researching, collaborating and devising creative solutions to problems. We seek to make each student's educational experience as personal as possible, and to motivate and equip students of all abilities to reach their full potential. Personal responsibility is encouraged and many opportunities for character development are pursued.
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DaySpring Arts & Education accepts students of any race, color, sex, religion, national or ethnic background.
HOW WE GOT HERE
DaySpring Arts and Education was created in September of 1993 by a group of artists who were seeking excellence in arts education for their children. Remembering their own struggles as young artists, they dreamed of a place where their children could receive quality technical training in a secure and nurturing environment that would prepare them to deal gracefully with the realities of life in the competitive world of the arts.
90s THROWBACK
TO OUR FIRST DAYS
Beginning with only thirty students in a handful of classes, the school grew rapidly in its early years, largely through word-of-mouth and recommendations. In 1998, DaySpring incorporated as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization with a committed board of directors. From January of 1999 to July of 2015, the school leased its first dedicated facility.
Through generous gifts of money, equipment and thousands of hours of volunteer help from dedicated supporters, we now have a wonderful building with dedicated spaces for dance and performing arts, classrooms, music studios, offices, storage, shop and construction space for shows, a Black Box Theatre--and room to grow. We have received Accreditation through ISACS for both The Academy and its Arts Programs.