In 2015, cofounders Katy Pfaffl and Ben Houghton met teaching music at the Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project. Both accomplished musicians, teachers, and performers themselves, they were inspired by the school's philosphy that "one underserved child, given the same opportunities as other children, can break the cycle of systemic, generational poverty for themselves and many others." In response, they began developing a new approach to their pedogogical philosophy: one that departed from the traditions of technical excellence they had been taught, and instead focused on the therapeutic, holistic, and transformative benefits of an arts education. Katy and Ben returned to New York with a mission to ensure that the Shanti Bhavan community would have consistent access to an arts education year-round, so they called up a few of their Broadway friends, put on a benefit concert, and created the Shanti Bhavan Music Fellowship! They quickly learned that the need for arts education was not just something happening on the otherside of the world, but was also in their backyards. New York City, the "cultural capital of the world," was filled with schools with little to no arts education programming. With the generous support of the Dionne Foundation, BAE expanded into the NYC DOE and has kept growing year over year to serve hundreds of children each week in India, Haiti, the United States, and the Galapagos Islands with dance, music, theater, poetry, visual arts, and production classes.