CASA (Children’s After School Arts)

CASA (Children’s After School Arts) is an independent, nonprofit creative arts after school program where children take part in creative arts instruction, performing arts instruction, and art projects. Students participate in improvisations, writing exercises, and theatrical production work, and they are involved in events such as the Winter Art & Music Show, Family Music Night, an end of the year musical, and the Spring Musical and Benefit. CASA states that it believes all children are inherently creative and aims to tap into each child’s inner artist, working with both ready-for-the-spotlight students and more hesitant performers to find individual comfort levels and discover new skills.

• Ages: 5–11 years old

CASA’s mission is to guide San Francisco’s youth toward open expression, expansive hearts, and questioning minds as an independent, nonprofit creative arts after school program. The program provides creative and performing arts instruction for children in Transitional Kindergarten through 6th grade within a safe and structured arts curriculum, with an emphasis on social justice, social and emotional development, community-building, and positive connections among students and staff. CASA highlights diversity, access, and inclusion as crucial to its mission and notes special pride in outreach to children with challenging social, academic, and family issues.

CASA reports that it embraces LGBTQ+ families and children who express gender variance and creates a cohort of children from a variety of San Francisco demographics. The program collaborates with families, nurses, teachers, social workers, and others to provide accommodations for students with IEPs and 504s, and its programming is based on individualized instruction that considers students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds. CASA engages families and caregivers through in-person meetings, emails, and phone calls, and staff trainings focus on diversity and inclusivity, with monthly staff meetings discussing students’ experiences within cultural frameworks. The arts curriculum embraces diversity, including discussion of heroes from students’ cultural, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds, and recent annual themes have included gender identity and immigration status.

CASA produces several fundraising events that also bring the community together, including a shopping night at Books Inc. in December, the Winter Art & Music Show in January, Family Music Night in February, and an end of the year musical in May. CASA’s Spring Musical and Benefit involves 300 kindergarten through 5th graders working side-by-side with professional actors, musicians, technicians, and designers on a professional stage. Each graduating 5th grader creates their own character and portrays that character as a lead in an original musical on a professional stage, and the annual Spring Musical explores themes of interest to students, including topics such as gentrification, displacement, and identity. CASA notes that its musicals address difficult subject matters and focus on self-discovery, individuality, and experiential development.

CASA reports that it has expanded enrollment to include more students every year since its inception and that it offers generous scholarship support, with a third of CASA families receiving some form of tuition assistance. The program describes daily work on peaceful conflict resolution using restorative practices and a focus on community-building and positive connections among students and staff. CASA states that it works with both students who are eager to perform and those who are more hesitant, with the goal of finding individual comfort levels and discovering new skills.

A study based on CASA’s gender expansive curriculum was published in 2019 and was featured on NPR’s This American Life, and CASA reports that its gender-focused arts-based curricula were associated with increased awareness of gender norms and more positive attitudes toward gender-expansive roles, activities, and attire. CASA is licensed by Community Care Licensing, a division of the Department of Social Services. The organization identifies its leadership as Founder and Executive Director Leslie Einhorn and Director of Finance Mary Mottola.

CASA notes that Per Sia, associated with the program, was named San Francisco’s new Drag Laureate. CASA describes Per Sia as “a legend at CASA and beloved by staff, families, and students alike,” and states that Per Sia “brings her best self every day, helping kids learn, grow, and become their best selves as well.” CASA also states that “her creativity and enthusiasm are unmatched,” that “her laughter and joy precede her,” and that “her patience is impressively endless.”

Last updated March 7, 2026.