Since 2001, the Guild has served as the fiscal and physical sponsor for the Empire State Partnership Office of Partnership Support and Research (formerly the ESP Professional Development Program), providing sound fiscal management, project planning, personnel searches and hiring, office space and equipment.

The Guild's record of quality professional development programming for artists and teachers has proven to be a great asset for the ESP Office of Partnership Support and Research , which coordinates an annual Summer Seminar for arts educators and administrators, regional networks for arts organizations and their partner schools, Strategic Foundation Building Retreats, the ESP website and other related intiatives.

Launched in 1996, Empire State Partnerships is a program of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), designed to raise standards for students, as well as to integrate and reinstate the arts into classrooms throughout New York State. The program supports over 80 school-wide arts-in-education partnerships between cultural organizations and schools. These partnerships are established to identify, support and develop promising arts-in-education practices, focusing on the achievement of the State Learning Standards and contributing to the improvement of teaching and learning in New York schools.

For more information, please visit the ESP website