Focus 5 Inc.

What Focus 5 Inc. does

Focus 5, Inc. (operating as Focus 5 and Arts Integration Consulting) is a Falls Church, Virginia-based arts integration consulting firm founded in 2004 by Sean Layne, with Melanie Rick as co-owner and Senior Consultant. The company designs and delivers customized arts integration professional development for K-12 schools and districts, plus student residencies (virtual and in-person) for K-8 classrooms covering drama, dance, visual art, music, puppetry, and storytelling. Its consulting team of 20+ named professionals — including National Board Certified teachers, certified reading specialists, Kennedy Center National Teaching Artists, Wolf Trap Master Artists, and professional artists who remain active in classrooms — serves schools, districts, museums, performing arts centers, and cultural organizations across the United States and internationally.

Core technology is modest: a dedicated asynchronous learning platform (Focus5Online.com) hosting 20+ self-paced course modules, live virtual residencies and synchronous sessions delivered via Zoom, and supporting physical/digital educational resources (the Acting Right book, music downloads, posters, card sets). The firm's most defensible intangible asset is intellectual rather than technical — Sean Layne co-authored the Kennedy Center's internationally adopted definition of arts integration and developed proprietary methodologies including the Acting Right drama-based classroom management framework and the Five-Phase Teaching Artist Development Cycle. Distribution is multi-channel: direct institutional sales for customized PD and residencies, self-serve enrollment via Focus5Online.com for individual courses, and ticketed annual conferences (Arts Integration Conference in Denver, Reading Art Conference at Crystal Bridges, Teaching Artist Intensive at UCSB) plus a year-round Saturday Synchronous Series.

Revenue is generated through five streams: (1) customized multi-year professional development contracts with schools, districts, and cultural organizations (professional services, quote-based pricing), (2) asynchronous course subscriptions on Focus5Online.com, (3) K-8 student residencies (3-10 sessions per booking, virtual or in-person), (4) ticketed conferences and synchronous series events (e.g., $450 per Arts Integration Conference participant, capped at 250), and (5) sales of books and supplementary materials (Acting Right $28, complete set $60). The company is privately held with no external funding rounds, no parent company, and no disclosed revenue. Operational footprint is national with international reach; cumulative reach includes 1,200+ classrooms and 30,000+ students served via virtual residencies, plus thousands of workshops delivered over more than 20 years.

Name

Focus 5 Inc.

Legal name

Focus 5, Inc.

Website

https://artsintegrationconsulting.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Focus 5, Inc. is a 20+ year-old arts integration consulting firm providing professional development, K-8 student residencies, online courses, and conferences to schools, districts, museums, and cultural organizations across the United States and internationally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Education Consulting / Arts Integration Professional Development

NAICS

Fine Arts Schools (61161), Fine Arts Schools (611610), Educational Support Services (6117), All Other Schools and Instruction (61169)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts Education Instruction (Visual/Performing) (EDAJAFAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

K–12 Instructional Design & Curriculum Development Services (EDAGAKAA), Electives & Enrichment Curriculum (Arts, Music, PE, CTE Exploratories) (EDAGAAAG), Standards Alignment & Curriculum Mapping (State/National) (EDAJAFAD)

Keywords

• Arts integration consulting
• Educator professional development
• Teaching artist training
• K-8 arts residencies
• Educational consulting services

Headquarters

HQ city

Not specified

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Professional Development Services for Schools and Districts: Customized professional development programs for schools, districts, and learning communities delivered as single events or multi-year partnerships. Programs combine instructional and implementation formats tailored to client needs.
2. Asynchronous Online Courses: Self-paced online professional development courses hosted on Focus5Online.com, created and taught by Focus 5 consultants. Courses span foundational, drama, visual art, dance, puppetry, music, and technology categories.
3. Student Residencies: Arts-integrated virtual or in-person residencies for K-8 students, typically 3-10 sessions, covering drama, visual art, dance, music, puppetry, and interdisciplinary arts. Accommodates multiple classrooms simultaneously.
4. Conferences and Events: Boutique annual conferences including the Arts Integration Conference ($450 per participant) in Denver, Reading Art Conference at Crystal Bridges Museum, and Teaching Artist Intensive at UC Santa Barbara. Includes administrator-focused and performance-focused session tracks.
5. Saturday Synchronous Series: Live virtual arts integration sessions held on Saturdays, 90 minutes each, covering various art forms. Bulk registrations available. Taught by nationally recognized specialists.
6. Books and Educational Resources: Sale of the Acting Right book ($28), book + music bundle ($31), music digital download ($3), and supplementary materials (Jewels of Concentration $12, classroom posters $25, card sets $17, complete sets $60).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Focus 5 provides customized arts integration professional development and consulting for K-12 schools, districts, museums, and cultural organizations. Offerings include in-person and virtual workshops, K-8 student residencies (drama, visual art, dance, music, puppetry), annual conferences, an asynchronous online course platform (Focus5Online.com), the Saturday Synchronous Series, and authored educational materials built around the proprietary Acting Right methodology.

Product overview

Focus 5 Inc. is an arts integration consulting firm providing a comprehensive portfolio of professional development services and educational programs. The offering consists of multiple service lines: (1) Professional Development Plans for Schools/Districts for customized arts integration programs; (2) Professional Development for Educators including online and in-person workshops; (3) Professional Development for Teaching Artists combining online modules with live sessions; (4) Student Residencies (virtual and in-person) for K-8 students; (5) Focus5Online.com, their dedicated asynchronous self-guided learning platform with over 20 courses across foundational, drama, visual art, dance, puppetry, music, and technology categories; (6) Saturday Synchronous Series for interactive virtual sessions; and (7) Conference offerings including the Arts Integration Conference, Teaching Artist Intensive, and Reading Art Conference. The company's offerings are organized around multiple art forms (drama, visual art, dance, puppetry, music, technology) and serve K-12 schools, districts, museums, and cultural organizations across the United States.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Focus5Online.com: Dedicated online learning platform for asynchronous arts integration professional development courses

Products and services

• Professional Development Plans for Schools/Districts Customized arts integration programs for K-12 schools, districts, and learning communities delivered as single events or multi-year professional learning partnerships combining instructional and implementation formats.
• Professional Development for Educators In-person and online arts integration workshops and courses for individual educators spanning drama, dance, visual art, music, puppetry, and storytelling.
• Professional Development for Teaching Artists Training program for teaching artists covering arts integration, residency planning, lesson design, classroom management, and professional development workshops, combining self-paced online modules with live virtual sessions.
• Student Residencies Highly participatory arts-integrated residencies for K-8 students delivered virtually (broadcast live) or in-person to develop comprehension, creativity, and self-confidence; includes drama, visual art, dance, music, puppetry, shadow puppetry, and interdisciplinary arts formats.
• Saturday Synchronous Series Live virtual arts integration sessions held on Saturdays, 90 minutes each, featuring single-presenter sessions, mash-up sessions combining two art forms, and micro-sessions with multiple presenters; bulk registrations available.
• Arts Integration Conference Annual two-day boutique conference on arts integration held in different cities, limited to 250 participants for intimate learning experiences.
• Teaching Artist Intensive Multi-day transformative professional development intensive for teaching artists structured around the Five-Phase Teaching Artist Development Cycle (Planning, Preparing, Teaching, Reflecting, Revising).
• Reading Art Conference Three-day national professional development conference focused on using visual art for literacy and social studies education, held at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
• America's Field Trip: Virtual Artist Residencies Free three-day virtual creative residency co-presented with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art for K-12 classes across the United States, celebrating America's 250th anniversary and aligned with state curriculum standards.
• Focus5Online.com Asynchronous Course Catalog Dedicated asynchronous self-guided online learning platform offering over 20 self-paced courses in arts integration across foundational, drama, visual art, dance, puppetry, music, and technology categories.
• Acting Right Books and Supplementary Materials Physical and digital educational products supporting the Acting Right program, including the Acting Right book authored by Sean Layne, music downloads, Jewels of Concentration, classroom posters, facilitator card sets, and complete classroom sets.

Quantifiable outcome

• Virtual residencies conducted in 1,200+ classrooms with 30,000+ students
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• UC Santa Barbara (UCSB)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2027UCSB provides the venue and dormitory accommodations for the Teaching Artist Intensive — a multi-day professional development seminar for teaching artists. Participants are housed in the Sierra Madre complex on the Goleta side of campus. The institute provides three nights lodging, meals, and a collaborative learning environment at the university campus.
• Crystal Bridges Museum of American ArtflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Crystal Bridges Museum and Focus 5 co-present 'America's Field Trip: Virtual Artist Residencies' — a free three-day virtual creative experience for K-12 students across the United States celebrating America's 250th anniversary. Focus 5 also hosts the annual Reading Art Conference at Crystal Bridges Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas (June 24–26, 2026). The partnership leverages Crystal Bridges' world-class collection as the foundation for arts-integrated curriculum.
• Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design (RMCAD)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026RMCAD serves as the host venue for Focus 5's annual Arts Integration Conference (July 8–9, 2026) in Lakewood, Colorado, minutes from downtown Denver. The partnership provides an immersive creative campus environment for the boutique conference focused on 'Art-ificial Intelligence: Cultivating Creativity in the Age of AI.'
• The Curtis Hotel (Denver)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2026The Curtis — a DoubleTree by Hilton — is the designated conference hotel for the Arts Integration Conference in Denver. A limited number of rooms are held at a special conference rate, and Focus 5 has arranged a shuttle between the hotel and RMCAD campus.
• John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing ArtsflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Multiple Focus 5 consultants serve as National Teaching Artists and program leaders for the Kennedy Center's Changing Education Through the Arts (CETA) program. Sean Layne is an arts coach for the Kennedy Center's CETA program. The Kennedy Center's definition of arts integration was co-authored by Lynne Silverstein and Sean Layne. The partnership provides national credentialing and credibility for Focus 5's teaching artist network.
• Wolf Trap Institute Early Learning through the ArtscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Lorena Cervantes was a Master Artist for Wolf Trap's Early Learning through the Arts program for 15+ years. Tanesha Payne is a certified Wolf Trap Teaching Artist. Wolf Trap provides professional development and residency programs integrating arts into early childhood education.
• National Education Association (NEA)minorOthers · 1 January 2024The NEA's research on arts integration is cited on Focus 5's website, referencing that achievement increases by 10 percent across the board in schools using arts integration techniques.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• Crayola Education: Crayola Education provides arts-integration lesson plans, grants, and PD resources targeting K-8 classrooms. It overlaps with Focus 5's visual-arts residency modules and educator PD offerings but reaches schools through a consumer-brand channel rather than consulting engagements.

Broad incumbents

• Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access: The Smithsonian offers free online courses, virtual museum residencies, and PD resources for educators integrating art and cultural content into K-12 classrooms — closely mirroring Focus 5's America'
• BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) Education: BAM Education delivers teaching artist residencies and PD for NYC-area and national schools, often through partnerships with cultural institutions similar to Focus 5's Crystal Bridges and Wolf Trap collaborations. Comparable in residency and PD service design.
• Lincoln Center Education: Lincoln Center's education arm runs large-scale arts-integration PD programs, teaching artist training, and school residencies in NYC and nationally. Like the Kennedy Center, it is a larger incumbent with overlapping offerings in arts-integration PD and teaching-artist development.
• John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Education / CETA): The Kennedy Center operates the Changing Education Through the Arts (CETA) program in which multiple Focus 5 consultants serve as National Teaching Artists and arts coaches. It is both a partner and a broader incumbent whose arts-integration definition Focus 5 co-authored, offering overlapping PD and residency services at much greater scale.
• National Gallery of Art Education Programs: The National Gallery of Art operates teacher workshops, online courses, and residencies focused on integrating visual art into K-12 curriculum. It is a comparable visual-arts integration PD provider with national reach and online learning assets.
• Carnegie Hall Education (Weill Music Institute): Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute runs national arts-integration PD programs, teaching artist residencies, and professional learning communities for music educators. It is a comparable performing-arts-focused PD provider targeting schools and districts.

Direct peers

• Young Audiences Arts for Learning: National nonprofit network that places teaching artists in K-12 classrooms and provides PD to educators on arts integration. It is the closest direct competitor in terms of mission, customer (K-12 schools/districts), and service mix (residencies + teacher training).
• Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning through the Arts: Wolf Trap Foundation runs a flagship early-learning arts-integration residency and PD program in which two Focus 5 consultants (Lorena Cervantes, Tanesha Payne) have served. It is the most directly comparable program in terms of teacher PD, classroom residencies, and arts-integrated curriculum for young learners.
• EducationCloset: EducationCloset is a smaller, niche organization offering online courses, conferences, and resources specifically on arts integration for K-12 educators. It is the closest scaled online-learning comparable to Focus 5's Focus5Online.com platform and annual conference model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/focus5inc
• Facebookfacebook.com/IntegratingArts
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/focus-5-inc.
• Instagraminstagram.com/focus5inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Focus 5 Inc.