Arts in Education - Community Consortium

This program, now in its ninth year, is designed to build strong arts education programming based on the following goals:

• To encourage and support a community's capacity to implement the state's Essential Academic Learning Requirements in the Arts in local public schools and other non-parochial facilities in which pre-K through 12 youth receive their education.
• To encourage full utilization of local resources by supporting partnerships of educators, artists, arts organizations and local arts agencies, parents, businesses, and other community members.
• To help communities develop strong arts education programming that meets the specific needs of their local public school students and will be sustainable due to community participation and advocacy.
• To develop local arts education expertise by supporting training of local educators and teaching artists in creating and teaching arts lessons based on the EALRs, integrating the arts into other subject areas, and assessing student performance in the arts.

Proposed plans should include programming that enhances teachers’ ability to bring the arts into their classrooms and promotes development of the school’s arts curriculum. Community Consortium Grants are not intended to fund short-term projects. Any not-for-profit member of a consortium may serve as the applicant and fiscal agent - a school or district, an arts organization, a local arts agency, or other partner.

In 2007, 21 Community Consortia received funding for the 2007-2008 school year, for a total of over $560,000. Funding levels for this grant program may range from $8,000-$35,000, depending on the scope of the program and the numbers of schools, students, and educators involved.