The purpose of this guide is to offer guidance to community leaders from the arts, education, business, civic, and government sectors who seek to combine their talents and resources in partnerships to address the arts and arts education needs of the young people of their community. The guide draws on and summarizes the knowledge and experience of leaders throughout the United States who have found partnerships an effective and productive approach to addressing community needs. The specific focus of the guide is on partnerships that engage multiple sectors of the community in an effort to provide arts education to students throughout an entire public school district or in a significant cluster of schools in the district. The guide has three sections: (1) the "impact" arts education partnerships have on improving the quality of education for students and the related benefits they bring to the participating schools and organizations; (2) the "factors" that make such partnerships successful over time; and (3) the "key questions" partners should ask themselves and one another at crucial stages in the life of their partnership. It is intended that the guide become an increasingly helpful tool to create and enhance arts education partnerships in every community. A resource list includes 18 publications and 4 web sites. (BT)