Case Study
Canva × Music to the Ears: Reimagining Creative Education
How Music to the Ears uses creative technology to expand access to digital arts, design, communication, and creative entrepreneurship.
Canva
Impact
More than a decade of
access & opportunity.
Music to the Ears has spent more than a decade connecting students with creative education, professional tools, industry practitioners, and real-world experiences across schools and communities. Our impact is measured by the students we reach, the opportunities we create, and the pathways we help make possible.
Real impact. Real outcomes.
The numbers behind the work.
10+
Years of impact
Expanding access to creative learning, experiences, and opportunities.
20K+
Students reached
Connecting young people with hands-on, career-connected creative learning.
40+
Schools & partners
Working across schools, libraries, public spaces, and community organizations.
250+
Program activations
Bringing Creative Pathways, industry experiences, and real-world learning directly to students.
These are the only statistics published anywhere on this site. They are maintained in a single sourced file so every surface that quotes them stays in step, and so nothing gets rounded up on the way to a slide.
Where the work happens
Creative education is not only a school subject.
A student's route into a creative industry rarely runs through one building. Music to the Ears builds programming for the full set of places that route passes through, and designs each one so it connects to the next.
01K-12 schools
02School districts
03Libraries
04Community organizations
05Community spaces
06Higher education
07Workforce development
08Industry partnerships
How we measure
Outcomes you can see, beyond a grade.
Creative education is easy to overstate and hard to score. So Music to the Ears reports on three things a principal, a funder, or a parent can verify for themselves.
01
Finished student work
Every pathway is built to end in something a student can show and credit: a released track, a screened film, a published episode, an exhibited photo series, a produced event. We look at what got finished and presented, not at what got started.
02
Participation
Who shows up, who stays through a full term, and who comes back for the next block. A site tells us more from its second cohort than its first, because returning students are the clearest signal that the programming is worth a student's time.
03
Pathway progression
Whether a student moves from a first taste into a full Creative Pathway, then into a signature program, a field trip, or an industry experience, and onward toward a credential, a portfolio, or a post-secondary step.
Case studies & highlights
See the work in action.
Explore the schools, partners, programs, and experiences bringing Creative Pathways to life and providing meaningful opportunities for students in classrooms, communities, and the real world.
Highlight
LA Auto Show × Music to the Ears
Connecting students to the creative careers shaping the future of automotive, mobility, design, media, marketing, technology, gaming, music, and live experiences.
Los Angeles Auto ShowLos Angeles, CA
Highlight
USC Iovine and Young Academy: From Classroom to Industry
Connecting LAUSD students with higher education and the industry leaders shaping the creative economy.
USC Iovine and Young AcademyLos Angeles, CA
Impact Story
LA Public Library (Octavia Lab): Creativity Belongs Everywhere
Bringing creative learning, technology, and career exploration into one of Los Angeles' most accessible community spaces.
Los Angeles Public Library, AcademixLos Angeles, CA
Highlight
Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel: Creativity Meets Hospitality
Where creativity, hospitality, culture, community, and experiential learning come together.
Fairmont Century PlazaCentury City, Los Angeles2025
Impact Story
LA Auto Show Student Field Trip
November 20, 2026 · LA Convention Center · K-12
Creative Pathways into the Automotive Industry: a community partnership between Music to the Ears, Academix, and the LA Auto Show. Opening Day, Friday, November 20, 2026.
Los Angeles Auto Show, AcademixLos Angeles Convention Center2026
Bring Creative Pathways to your students.
Tell us about your students, school, schedule, and goals. We’ll help identify the Creative Pathways, programs, and experiences that best fit your needs and build a solution designed for your learning environment.