In that same year he and Felipe Gutiérrez Espinosa, another outstanding Puerto Rican composer, approached Governor Guy V. Henry with a proposal to establish a music institute in San Juan.

While the project never materialized due to lack of interest in Governor Henry's administration, it gave birth to the idea of establishing music schools independent of the public instruction system.

[6] Together with his wife, Nicolasa Torruellas, he founded the Arteaga Academy in Ponce, where they taught piano, music theory, organ, and voice, among others.

[10] He returned to New York City where he had studied violin and works as organist at St. Patrick's Cathedral from 1920 to 1923.

[2] Arteaga married Daría Nicolasa Torruellas, also a musician, with whom he had five children, four boys (including Pedro [1903–], and Julio Carlos [1907–]), and a girl.