About Us

Why, What and How

Fine arts education is disappearing quietly—one course, one budget cut, one scheduling decision at a time. And when it goes, students lose more than an elective. They lose access to the creativity, confidence, collaboration, and resilience they need to thrive in school, work, and life.

Parents for Arts Education exists to change that.

Founded in 2021 by Central Texas parents, educators, and school leaders, Parents for Arts Education is a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting and strengthening fine arts education by mobilizing the voices that matter most: parents, students and the overall community. We were created because families saw firsthand how music, theatre, dance, and visual arts transformed their children—and because research confirms these programs improve academic outcomes, support social and emotional development, increase graduation rates, and build the human skills technology can never replace.

While teachers and administrators fight every day to keep arts programs alive, they cannot do it alone. Parents influence enrollment, funding decisions, and community priorities—yet many are never given the tools or information to advocate effectively. That’s where we come in.

We educate parents.
We empower students.

We coordinate communities.
We build sustained demand for fine arts education.

Through partnerships with organizations such as Texas PTA, the Texas Cultural Trust, and statewide arts education coalitions, we provide research-based messaging, advocacy toolkits, and leadership opportunities that communities can use year-round. In 2025, we expanded our work to include Students for Arts Education, giving current and former fine arts students a platform to lead, serve, and advocate for the programs that shaped them.

In November of 2026, our founder, Trina Martin, filmed a TEDx talk titled "AI Can't Replace This: Why Arts Education Matters". This launched the "Fine Arts Builds Human Skills" Movement and The Human Skills Advantage™ framework. This will help to solidify a message and strategy that brings everyone together to bring awareness to this timely issue with common language for maximum impact.

Parent-led, Community-powered

Our approach is grassroots, scalable, and sustainable. By equipping our advocacy network with the knowledge and confidence to speak up locally—at schools, school boards, and in their communities—we help ensure fine arts education is not treated as a “nice to have,” but recognized as essential to college, career, and military readiness.

Why Your Support Matters

Every donation and every volunteer helps to:

Gather the missing voices in arts education advocacy: the students and parents.
Educate parents and community leaders who don’t already know how critical arts education is to future success
Train local advocates to protect and grow programs in their communities
Amplify student voices in education and policy conversations
Build long-term demand that keeps fine arts programs alive for future generations

This is not a short-term campaign. It is a movement to ensure that creativity and human connection remain central to education—no matter how fast technology advances.

If you believe students deserve more than test prep (specifically teaching skills graded by a computer that can eventually be replaced by a computer), if you believe creativity is essential to our future workforce, and if you believe parents and students should have a voice in shaping education, we invite you to stand with us.

Together, we can ensure fine arts education doesn’t just survive—but thrives.

Join Our Community

Our Board of Directors

Trina Martin

Founder & President

Trina Martin has been a dedicated fine arts education advocate for over 30 years, leveraging her experience as a marketing executive in the music products industry. Though her mother was a visual arts teacher, Trina found her passion in percussion and still enjoys performing whenever she can. Ironically, her daughters chose dance over the many instruments in their home, leading her to embrace her role as a “dance mom.” Through this experience, she saw firsthand the profound impact of fine arts education on every child, regardless of career path.

Recognizing the power of a united community, Trina witnessed how parents and students working together could drive meaningful change. This inspired her to establish Parents for Arts Education and Students for Arts Education, nonprofit organizations dedicated to mobilizing current and former students and parents to advocate for fine arts education.

When she’s not championing arts education—which is rare—Trina enjoys playing percussion, attending student performances, traveling, and cheering for the Longhorns.

Lisa Roebuck

Founding Board Member

After spending 39 years in public education—teaching Elementary Music and Choir, then leading the fine arts department for Round Rock ISD in Texas, Lisa retired to the Texas Hill Country and joined Trina Martin in forming Parents for Arts Education. She has been a fabulous consultant as we strategize how to stand with the teachers to support fine arts education.

Lisa grew up in Fredericksburg, Texas. She holds a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Texas at Austin, a Kodály Music Certification from Texas State University and a Masters in Educational Leadership from Lamar University. She taught general music at the elementary level and choral music at the secondary level for 21 years. Lisa taught in both public and private schools before entering the world of full time fine arts administration in 2006. She presents professional development for other school districts and educational service centers in the areas of elementary music, choir, fine arts curriculum and program development.

Lisa has served as the Elementary Music Region 26 Chair for the Texas Music Educators Association, and President of the Kodály Educators of Texas. She collaborated with The Vision Committee for Curriculum and Assessments in the Arts; for the Texas Music Administration Conference/Texas Music Educators Association and was selected by the State Board of Education and worked on the Fine Arts TEKS Revision Committee.

She is strongly committed to quality music and overall fine arts education in the state of Texas.

Susan Tait

Founding Board Member

Susan W. Tait was one of Parents for Arts Education founding board members. As a lifelong artist, Susan found what kept her grounded throughout her 30 years as an Air Force officer’s wife. Whenever they were stationed across the country, she always found a way to get involved in the art scene, show her oil and watercolor paintings and set up her art classes with her Sissortail Studios – all while being a super supportive band parent! She even drove her daughter’s car behind the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps buses during their 1990 cross country tour! After retiring from the Air Force in 1992, they moved to Durango, Colorado where she served on the board of the Durango Arts Center, continued to show her watercolors in galleries and art shows and created custom gift bringer and mountain men dolls. As a consummate teacher, she created a series of historically accurate mountain men and Santa’s throughout history. Then presented amazing historical programs to schools and community groups in Colorado and Texas, including activities for kids to make their own.
She instilled in her two daughters the importance of education and giving back to the community. In 2021, after many discussions with her oldest daughter, Trina Martin, about the barriers to strong fine arts education and the overall concerns about how to come back after the pandemic, she encouraged her to not go back into the music products industry but start Parents for Arts Education.
Unfortunately we lost her in October of 2023 but she was excited about the progress and future of Parents for Arts Education. We will miss her terribly but are proud to continue her legacy of passing on a love of creating and supporting all art in our schools and communities!