Poetry workshops. Composing and performing operas. Studying sculpture and still-life painting. Staging Shakespeare in the schools. Creating an animated film. Even getting an introduction, yes, to “theatrical circus arts.”
These are among the activities inside and outside schools slated to get an infusion of federal support under a new round of federal grants announced yesterday by the National Endowment for the Arts.
In all, the independent federal agency announced plans to award 928 grants totaling $77 million to nonprofit organizations nationwide. Although the grants go far beyond arts education, that particular domain is getting plenty of attention.
In all, more than 100 of the grants are explicitly categorized by the endowment as “arts education,” but in scanning the database of grants, it became clear that this didn’t tell the whole story. Plenty of examples outside that realm had a connection to schools and students as well.
“The arts should be a part of everyday life,” Rocco Landesman, the chairman of the endowment, said in a press release on the new grants. “Whether it’s seeing a performance, visiting a gallery, participating in an art class, or simply taking a walk around a neighborhood enhanced by public art, these grants are ensuring that across the nation, the public is able to experience how art works.”
View the entire Education Week article here.