CASA (Children’s After School Arts)

CASA (Children’s After School Arts) is an independent, nonprofit creative arts after school program that offers creative and performing arts instruction. Students take part in art projects, improvisations, and writing exercises, and they participate in events such as the Winter Art & Music Show, Family Music Night, and an end of the year musical. CASA’s Spring Musical and Benefit is performed on a professional stage, where students work side-by-side with professional actors, musicians, technicians, and designers.

• Ages: 5–11 years old

CASA serves children from Transitional Kindergarten through 6th grade, also described as Kindergarten through 6th grade. The program’s mission states that it is dedicated to guiding San Francisco’s youth toward open expression, expansive hearts, and questioning minds. CASA is licensed by Community Care Licensing, a division of the Department of Social Services.

The program emphasizes social justice and social/emotional development, community-building, and positive connections among students and staff. It uses peaceful conflict resolution and restorative practices and takes special pride in outreach to children with challenging social, academic, and family issues. CASA embraces LGBTQ+ families and children who express gender variance and works with students with IEPs and 504s, providing accommodations and individualized instruction that considers 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. Its 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. A study based on CASA’s gender expansive curriculum was published in 2019 and was featured on NPR’s This American Life, and the study suggested that gender-focused arts-based curricula were associated with increased awareness of gender norms, shifts in understandings of gender, and more positive attitudes toward gender-expansive roles, activities, and attire.

CASA produces several festive fundraising events, including 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. The Annual Spring Musical explores themes of interest to students; for example, the 2015 Spring Musical theme was San Francisco, exploring history, gentrification, displacement, and identity. Scripts are developed through improvisations and writing exercises with 5th grade leads, and each graduating 5th grader creates their own character and portrays them in full costume as a lead in an original musical on a professional stage. These musicals address difficult subject matters and focus on self-discovery, individuality, and experiential development.

CASA offers generous scholarship offerings, and a third of CASA families receive some form of tuition assistance. The program has expanded enrollment to include more students every year since its inception. Programming includes collaboration with families, nurses, teachers, social workers, and others to provide accommodations for students.

Founder & Executive Director Leslie Einhorn leads the program, with Mary Mottola serving as Director of Finance. Per Sia, who is associated with CASA and described as a legend at CASA and beloved by staff, families, and students, was named San Francisco’s Drag Laureate. Testimonials describe Per Sia’s creativity and enthusiasm as unmatched, note that her laughter and joy precede her, and state that her patience is impressively endless.

Last updated June 6, 2026.