The Leopold Gallery’s founder helps raise funds for art education.

Paul Dorrell, the owner of the Leopold Gallery, doesn’t just represent some of the Midwest’s best working artists. He’s also helping the next generation develop their voices, too.

His Leopold Gallery Educational Foundation donates about $10,000 per year to both Paseo Academy in Kansas City, Missouri, and Sumner Academy in Kansas City, Kansas.

The money pays for art supplies, books and field trips—“all the same things that kids in the Johnson County districts have,” Dorrell said.

Without the foundation’s help, those schools’ art departments would have only a few thousand dollars per year. That’s nowhere near what’s needed. Unfortunately, budget cuts have hit arts education particularly hard.

“These teachers can barely function with a budget like that,” said Dorrell, who also mentors Sumner and Paseo students.

Every kid who takes an art class probably won’t grow up to be a professional painter or sculptor. But they will become smarter, more well-rounded citizens, Dorrell said.

He’s passionate about the good that art can accomplish—and the harm caused by underfunding art education.

“It is killing our schools and our educational system,” Dorrell said. “So people like me have to wade in and make a difference where we can.”