The Arkansas Arts Council is again offering K-12 schools a $30,000 Challenge America grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. This will give schools an opportunity to participate in the AIE Mini-Residency grant program. The grant program will provide funding for professional artists on the Arts in Education Artist Roster to present one to five-day curriculum-based mini-residencies in the classroom. Applicants, including classroom teachers and arts specialists, may receive a maximum of $1,000 using established AIE program rates for artist's fees, travel, meals, lodging and supplies. Applicants must show a 1:1 match of cash and/or in-kind contributions.
Schools that incorporate the arts such as music, visual art, drama, dance or creative writing into basic curriculum have found that there may be a significant effect on overall student success. The arts are closely associated with important ideas and events in history, thus students with a background in the arts are likely to have a richer source of information and insight to draw upon, compared to those without this background. Math and reading scores increase, truancy decreases, and overall morale improves whenever the impact of arts education programming has been measured in national studies.
The mini-residency program will ensure that K-12 teachers in all Arkansas schools have an opportunity to apply for the residencies. Schools in rural and underserved communities who have not had access to one of the Art Council’s AIE programs are especially encouraged to apply.
Applications are now available for residencies occurring between October 2002 and May 2003. For more information, contact Cynthia Haas, Arts in Education program manager, at 501-324-9769 or cynthia@arkansasheritage.org, or visit the web site at www.arkansasarts.com.