Arts In Education

Arts in Education

Goals and Strategies

The goal of the Arts in Education program is to increase arts education and to improve pre-K through grade 12 student learning through the arts. Funding will be directed toward programs that seek to enhance students’ educational outcomes rather than to simply increase participation in, or appreciation for, the arts.

Approach

The Arts in Education program will consider funding programs that:

Encourage the adoption and/or growth of arts integration within a public school or school district. We will prioritize programs that integrate the arts as a tool within greater, diverse curriculum content areas over arts enrichment or direct arts instruction programs.
Advocate systemic change within schools, districts, or at the state level to encourage arts in education, and
Utilize the arts as a tool to reduce the educational opportunity gap.

Why Take This Approach?

There is clear evidence to suggest that arts-integrated curricula and/or arts-rich environments are beneficial to student learning. Although we value the arts as a stand-alone experience, programs are most successful when:

They have the support of an entire district and in-school leadership
Teacher professional development is included in the program
Partnerships with high-quality arts organizations are created and nourished
Arts lessons are aligned with other student learning goals, and
Student progress is effectively monitored

Guidelines

With the above lessons in mind, we have established the following guiding principles.

K-12 public schools (or pre-K programs that receive public funding) must already have traction in arts programs (i.e. some arts education has already been established in the school, policies are in place to support arts in education, principals want a more robust arts program, and schools have support from parent groups (PTAs) to strengthen their arts programs).
Programs must focus on positively impacting students’ learning.
Programs must focus on students “doing” art, as opposed to observing art. Programs should enhance comprehensive, sequential delivery of arts instruction and can include all arts: performing, music, visual, theater, literary (poetry & writing), folk, media, and emerging art fields.
Applicants should be able to demonstrate their program has been designed and is managed with an understanding of cultural competencies appropriate to their student demographic.

Priority Will Be Given To:

Programs that include professional development opportunities for classroom teachers and teaching artists who are focused on arts education.
Programs that encourage development of additional partnerships and achieve goals with others such as community organizations, artists, parents, government entities, foundations, and school organizations where possible.
Programs which are sustainable, long-term, and potentially replicable. We hope to invest in programs that can contribute to the field as a whole.

The Arts in Education Program Will Not Fund:

Individuals or artists’ work. However, programs can include artist-in-residence programs in pre-K–12 public schools, providing that the residency is part of an larger arts integration strategy focused on student learning;
One-time events (e.g., a field trip to the symphony or museum);
Art performances without ongoing, hands-on opportunities for children and youth to participate.

Current Grant Partners

American Conservatory Theater

American Conservatory Theater (ACT)
(San Francisco, CA)
For general operating support. ACT is an essential gathering place that brings artists and communities together to inspire and provoke. Previous ATFF grants supported ACTsmart residency programming in 7 San Francisco continuation or Title 1 high schools. Residencies are in-depth, long term partnerships where ACT integrates theater into classroom curriculum based on each school's population and specific needs. All residencies are free of charge to students and participating schools.

Arts Corps

Arts Corps (Seattle, WA)
For general operating support. Arts Corps' programs address the race and income-based opportunity gap in access to arts education. Through participation in Arts Corps' arts integration, out-of-school arts, and teen leadership programs, youth experience the transformative power of creativity and gain a deepened belief in their own capacity to learn, take risks, persist, and achieve.

Arts for the Schools

Arts for the Schools (Truckee, CA)
For general operating support. Arts for the Schools inspires, teaches and builds their rural communities through equitable access to the arts and arts education. Previous ATFF grants supported the Visual Arts Program in the Truckee Tahoe Unified School District. This program provides weekly visits from teaching artists for nine schools in science, social studies, and math, reaching 40+ classrooms, as well as whole-school arts integration and professional development training for teaching artists and school staff.

Arts Impact

Arts Impact (Seattle, WA)
For general operating support. Arts Impact is a two-year professional development program that empowers preschool through 8th grade teachers to incorporate the arts into their students’ basic education (math, reading, and writing). The program emphasizes hands-on learning and one-on-one artist/teacher mentorships to address the critical needs of teachers, students, and schools.

Chicago Arts Partnerships In Education

Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE)
(Chicago, IL)
For general operating support. CAPE engages students, inspires teachers, and demonstrates impact by weaving visual, digital, and performing arts into classrooms across Chicago. Previous ATFF grants supported Arts Integration residencies in Chicago public schools. CAPE teaching artists and classroom teachers collaborate to integrate music, visual arts, dance, digital media, and drama into their academic lessons in order to improve academic and social-emotional outcomes such as creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration skills.

Creative Justice

Creative Justice (Seattle, WA)
For general operating support. Creative Justice builds community with youth most impacted by the school-to-prison-(to-deportation) pipeline. Participants and mentor artists work together to examine the root causes of incarceration, like systemic racism and other forms of oppression, creating art that articulates the power and potential of our communities. Youth and mentor artists engaged in Creative Justice attack systemic issues that contribute to our oppression, while building healing-centered spaces that strengthen the protective factors that help us all to thrive.

Creative Advantage

Creative Advantage (Seattle, WA)
For general operating support programming within Seattle Public Schools (SPS). Creative Advantage is a city-wide initiative to establish equitable access to arts learning for every SPS student. Previous ATFF grants included support to bring Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed techniques to secondary school Language Arts and Social Studies teachers to integrate theatre in the new Ethnic Studies curriculum in the SPS.

Exploring the Arts

Exploring the Arts (ETA) (New York, NY)
For general operating support. Exploring the Arts transforms the lives of young people through arts education. Previous ATFF grants supported ETA's 4-Year Plan, which offers professional learning sessions, curriculum planning, artist residencies, and cultural field trips through a partnership with four Manhattan schools. Additional grant funds also supported a pilot program in four NY middle schools to create whole school arts integration.

Ingenuity

Ingenuity (Chicago, IL)
For general operating support. Ingenuity’s mission is to ensure that every student, in every grade, in every school, has access to the arts as part of a well-rounded education. Their work focuses on four primary strategies: data and research, partnerships and learning, advocacy, and investing directly in Chicago public schools to bolster arts programming.

KENNEDY CENTER - CHANGING EDUCATION THROUGH THE ARTS and Turnaround Arts

Kennedy Center Changing Education Through the Arts (CETA) and Turnaround Arts (Washington D.C.)
General operating support for CETA and Turnaround Arts programming. CETA is dedicated to improving student learning through arts-integrated instruction through D.C.-area schools, professional learning opportunities for teachers, Arts Integration conferences, and ongoing assessment and evaluation for consistent school-wide program development. Turnaround Arts transforms Priority- and Focus-designated elementary and middle schools through the strategic use of the arts. Previous ATFF grants included support for Turnaround Arts' Summer Leadership Retreat, a keystone national event that connects some of the nation's lowest performing schools with professional development.

MindfulArts

MindFul Arts (San Francisco, CA)
For general operating support. MindFul Arts provides volunteer-facilitated mindfulness instruction to SFUSD students through a partnership with the San Francisco Education Fund. Using storytelling, as well as visual and performing arts activities, students learn focusing techniques to cultivate the skill of present moment awareness to improve attention, self-regulation, and social-emotional learning so that all students can have the opportunity to thrive.

Washington State Arts Commission

Washington State Arts Commission (Olympia, WA)
General operating support for Washington State Arts Commission’s Creative Start programming. Creative Start programming aims to increase access to arts-integration practices in early learning and K-3 settings building on ongoing inter-agency collaborations with The Office of the Superintendent of Instruction, the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, The Teaching Artist Training Lab, ARTs Impact (Washington), and Wolf Trap education programs (National).

WOLF TRAP INSTITUTE FOR EARLY LEARNING
Through THE ARTS

Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts (Vienna, VA)
General operating support for Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts’ Institute for Early Learning. Previous ATFF support included bringing ‘Creativity Connects’ symposia and one-week teaching artist residencies, as well as workshops and seminars to further introduce Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning’s programming in arts integration. Wolf Trap is a national leader in early childhood education and the arts.