MINDPOP
MINDPOP is a 2010-founded Austin non-profit that designs and manages creative learning systems for K-12 students, operating as the backbone of the Creative Learning Initiative — a collective impact partnership with Austin ISD, the City of Austin, the Kennedy Center, and 200+ arts organizations serving 54,000+ students across 90+ schools.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersAustin, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What MINDPOP does
MINDPOP is a Texas-based non-profit organization founded in 2010 that designs and manages creative learning systems to expand student access to arts education and creative learning in classrooms, schools, and communities. The organization operates as the backbone of Austin's Creative Learning Initiative (CLI), a 13-year-old collective impact partnership binding Austin ISD, the City of Austin (Cultural Arts Division and Parks and Recreation Department), the Kennedy Center's Any Given Child Initiative, and more than 200 community arts organizations. The CLI currently reaches over 54,000 students, 3,500 educators, and 90+ schools, with outcome data showing 8% higher STAAR reading pass rates, 1.13% higher attendance, and 92% of trained teachers reporting increased student engagement.
MINDPOP's core intellectual products are the Creative Teaching instructional framework (drawing on techniques from drama, visual arts, music, movement, and digital media) and the Creative Campus Design Model, a 9-factor rubric for building arts-rich schools. Supporting offerings include professional development (Flashdrive series, Distinguished Speaker Series), the Emerging Teaching Artists Fellowship, the MINDPOP Matchmaker partner directory, Summer Arts Experiences, and the Dance Across Austin citywide event. Research collaboration is conducted with UT Austin (Drama for Schools, College of Fine Arts, UTeach Fine Arts) and St. Edward's University.
The business model is grant and donation-funded: revenue is sourced from the City of Austin, National Endowment for the Arts, Texas Commission on the Arts, multiple private foundations (Moody, Powell, Webber, Applied Materials, Alice Kleberg Reynolds, Austin Community Foundation), and individual donors, supplemented by short- and long-term consulting engagements with learning systems leaders nationally and convenings of national communities of practice. Go-to-market is event- and partnership-driven, relying on direct engagement with school districts, teachers, arts organizations, and families through professional development and community programming rather than conventional B2B sales channels.
MINDPOP firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- MINDPOP
- Legal name
- MINDPOP
- Website
- https://mindpop.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- MINDPOP is a 2010-founded Austin non-profit that designs and manages creative learning systems for K-12 students, operating as the backbone of the Creative Learning Initiative — a collective impact partnership with Austin ISD, the City of Austin, the Kennedy Center, and 200+ arts organizations serving 54,000+ students across 90+ schools.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
MINDPOP industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Arts Education Services
- NAICS
- Fine Arts Schools (611610)
- SIC
- Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Innovation & Design Thinking Programs (EDAMAHAD)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Visual Arts & Media Arts Programs (Art Club, Photography, Film) (EDAJAJAF)
Keywords
Where MINDPOP is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Austin
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
MINDPOP business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Grants and Donations: As a non-profit organization, MINDPOP primarily generates revenue through grants from government entities (City of Austin, National Endowment for the Arts) and private foundations, as well as individual donations.
- Consulting Services: Nationally, MINDPOP shares its knowledge and expertise with learning systems leaders through short and long term consulting engagements, as well as convenings of national communities of practice.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels6 records
MINDPOP product offering
Product offeringCore offering
MINDPOP designs and manages creative learning systems that increase K-12 student access to arts and creative learning. Its core offering is the Creative Learning Initiative (CLI), a collective impact partnership with Austin ISD, the City of Austin, and 200+ arts organizations that delivers Creative Teaching professional development, Creative Campus Design frameworks, arts partner matching, and consulting services to learning systems leaders nationally.
Product overview
MINDPOP is a nonprofit organization that designs and implements creative learning systems to bring the benefits of arts and creative learning to classrooms, schools, and communities. The organization's primary offerings center on the Creative Learning Initiative (CLI), a collective impact partnership among MINDPOP, Austin ISD, the City of Austin, and 200+ arts organizations, which includes Creative Teaching as an instructional framework, Creative Campus Design for comprehensive school transformation, and various professional development programs (Flashdrive, Distinguished Speaker Series, Emerging Teaching Artists Fellowship). Supporting programs include Day of Dance, Summer Arts Experiences, and MINDPOP Matchmaker—a directory connecting schools with arts partners. The organization serves 55,000+ students across 90+ schools through consulting engagements and national convenings.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Creative Learning Initiative (CLI): A collective impact partnership ensuring all Austin ISD students attend arts-rich schools within creative learning communities. Managed by MINDPOP as the backbone organization.
- Dance Across Austin
Products and services
- Creative Learning Initiative (CLI) A collective impact partnership among MINDPOP, Austin ISD, the City of Austin, and 200+ arts organizations that provides comprehensive creative learning systems for K-12 students, including professional development for teachers, arts partnerships, and campus design programs.
- Creative Teaching An instructional approach using specific techniques from drama, visual arts, music, movement, and digital media to promote student understanding and engagement across any content area; delivered as professional development for teachers.
- Creative Campus Design A comprehensive design model addressing 9 factors including student access to fine arts, creative teaching across curriculum, arts partnerships, after school arts, professional development, community-building, communication, leadership, and appropriate facilities. Used to transform schools into arts-rich creative campuses.
- MINDPOP Consulting Services Short and long term consulting engagements with learning systems leaders nationally, plus convenings of national communities of practice, sharing MINDPOP's knowledge and expertise in creative learning systems.
- Dance Across Austin / Day of Dance A citywide celebration of movement, culture, education, and community that brings together dancers, artists, families, educators, and neighbors for classes, performances, and connection.
- MINDPOP Matchmaker A directory of Community Arts Partners and their programs, designed to facilitate strong arts partnerships in Austin ISD and beyond.
- Emerging Teaching Artists Fellowship (ETA) A jobs-training program for artists from traditionally under-represented communities who are interested in teaching their art form in schools and the community, providing skills in culturally relevant pedagogy, curriculum development, and career development.
- Flashdrive Professional Development Series MINDPOP's professional development series for arts providers, focusing on six areas: In the Classroom, The Business of Being a Teaching Artist, Professional Perspectives, Theory and Development, Collective Impact, and Arts Lab.
- Summer Arts Experiences A program connecting youth and families with accessible summer arts experiences, including the Summer Arts Guide featuring opportunities from community arts partners, and Creative Learning at Home activities.
Quantifiable outcome
- 8% more likely to pass STAAR reading tests
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use MINDPOP
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
MINDPOP technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
MINDPOP partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- City of AustincoreLead partner in the Creative Learning Initiative. The City of Austin, through its Cultural Arts Division and Parks and Recreation Department, supports arts education and creative learning across Austin. The City committed to making PARD instructors learn creative teaching strategies so that out-of-school learning experiences are meaningful and engaging.
- Austin Independent School District (AISD)coreLead partner and primary educational institution. Austin ISD committed to a 10-year plan to make all schools arts-rich and creative campuses. The district provides access to schools, teachers, and students for implementing creative learning programs.
- Kennedy Center for the Performing ArtscoreThe Kennedy Center chose Austin as the 7th Partner City for their Any Given Child Initiative, providing excellent facilitation of a strategic long-range plan for creative learning. This partnership provided the framework for the Creative Learning Initiative.
- Dr. Shawn Ginwright, PhDminorNational thought leader who provided keynote address on the role of arts educators in the post-COVID-19 world and helping young people reconnect and heal.
- Vu LeminorThought leader in nonprofit and arts education who participated in a Fireside Chat with MINDPOP on topics related to arts-based learning and equity.
- University of Texas at AustincoreMultiple partnerships including Drama for Schools program, College of Fine Arts, John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, UT Austin Theater Arts Department, and UTeach Fine Arts. UT provides research collaboration and academic expertise.
- Community Arts Partners (200+ organizations)coreOver 200 community arts organizations contribute resources, time, and insight into the Creative Learning Initiative. These include organizations like Ballet Austin, Zach Theatre, Creative Action, Austin Film Society, and many others providing arts education programming in schools.
- St. Edward's UniversityminorPartner through Department of Literature, Writing and Rhetoric, Fine Arts Department, Graphic Design Department, and Theater Arts Department.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
MINDPOP competitors and assessment
Company assessmentOthers
- National Guild for Community Arts Education: Membership and advocacy body representing community-based arts education organizations, serving as a peer network and capacity-building resource analogous to MINDPOP's intermediary role.
Direct peers
- The Ailey Group / Alvin Ailey Arts in Education: Provides dance and movement education residencies and teaching-artist training in K-12 schools, comparable to MINDPOP's drama/movement/dance integration work.
- Creative Action: Austin-based nonprofit that delivers arts education programming (including through schools and communities) for youth, operating in the same city and serving overlapping K-12 populations and partners.
- Studio in a School: Nonprofit providing visual arts instruction and teaching-artist programs in public schools, structurally parallel to MINDPOP's arts-in-schools delivery model.
- Young Audiences: National nonprofit network dedicated to expanding arts education in K-12 schools, operating affiliate chapters that coordinate teaching artists and school partnerships comparable to MINDPOP's backbone model.
- Education Through Music: Nonprofit that partners with school districts to provide music and arts instruction plus teacher professional development, structurally analogous to MINDPOP's Creative Teaching + CLI approach.
Broad incumbents
- Americans for the Arts: National advocacy and service organization for the arts that supports local arts agencies, policy, and research, overlapping with MINDPOP on arts education advocacy and data dissemination.
- Turnaround Arts (Kennedy Center): National Kennedy Center initiative bringing arts education resources to low-performing schools, sharing the same Kennedy Center institutional channel and arts-rich-school thesis as MINDPOP.
- Kennedy Center Any Given Child: The Kennedy Center program through which Austin was selected as a partner city, providing the framework MINDPOP built upon; operates across multiple cities as a broader arts-in-education initiative.
Regional players
- Drama for Schools (UT Austin): University-based program at UT Austin (an MINDPOP partner) that delivers drama-based pedagogy training for teachers, adjacent in methodology and overlapping in Austin ecosystem.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
MINDPOP social profiles
Digital presenceMINDPOP financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
MINDPOP leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles11 records
MINDPOP funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
MINDPOP M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about MINDPOP
What does MINDPOP do?
MINDPOP designs and manages creative learning systems that increase K-12 student access to arts and creative learning. Its core offering is the Creative Learning Initiative (CLI), a collective impact partnership with Austin ISD, the City of Austin, and 200+ arts organizations that delivers Creative Teaching professional development, Creative Campus Design frameworks, arts partner matching, and consulting services to learning systems leaders nationally.
Is MINDPOP a public or private company?
MINDPOP is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was MINDPOP founded?
MINDPOP was founded in 2010. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is MINDPOP based?
MINDPOP is headquartered in Austin, United States, in the North America region.
How does MINDPOP make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Grants and Donations are the primary driver. The others are consulting Services.
Who are MINDPOP's main competitors?
National Guild for Community Arts Education is listed as an others. Direct peers are The Ailey Group / Alvin Ailey Arts in Education, Creative Action, Studio in a School, Young Audiences and Education Through Music. Broad incumbents are Americans for the Arts, Turnaround Arts (Kennedy Center) and Kennedy Center Any Given Child. Drama for Schools (UT Austin) is listed as a regional player.
Does MINDPOP have an API?
No public API is recorded for MINDPOP.
What industry is MINDPOP in?
MINDPOP's product category is Arts Education Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAMAHAD, Innovation & Design Thinking Programs, with a secondary code of EDAJAJAF, Visual Arts & Media Arts Programs (Art Club, Photography, Film). Its NAICS code is 611610 and its SIC code is 8742.