Its founders and board of directors included members and former members of the John Reed Club such as William Gropper, as well as contributors to the New Masses and the Daily Worker, and notable artists such as Margaret Bourke-White and Louis Schanker.

A statement from the school's brochure of 1936 reads, The school suffered from financial difficulties and closed in the spring of 1941; however, the significant role it played in integrating art and society in the thirties was recognized by both the liberal and radical press.

Students at the school included Jacob Lawrence, Theodoros Stamos, Lucille Wallenrod, Ad Reinhardt, Elaine de Kooning, Jack McLarty, Harry Shoulberg, Milton Resnick, and Fay Kleinman.

Teachers included the sculptor Joseph Konzal, the cartoonist Fred Ellis, Philip Evergood, Milton Hebald, Sol Wilson, Louis Schanker, Francis Criss, Walter Quirt, Moses Soyer, Louis Lozowick, and Abraham Harriton, and symposia featured lectures by Samuel Putnam, Charmion von Wiegand, and Martha Graham.

[4] Russian-born Anton Refregier was a member of the faculty and at one point chairman of the board.