(High Desert Museum Kids Curate Exhibition | Photo courtesy Oregon Arts Commission)
Nineteen arts organizations will receive $10,000 each in grant awards to support their educational projects in Oregon schools through $190,000 in funding available through the FY2020 Oregon Arts Commission Arts Learning program.
The High Desert Museum in Bend was one of those recipients, awarded the funds to support Kids Curate, a meaningful, year-long education program that provides engaging arts learning experiences for underserved students.
“We are delighted by the creativity and collaboration behind this year’s applications, and are confident that the education of students around the state will be enriched as a result,” said Arts Commissioner Michael Dalton, who chaired the review panel. “The variety of funded projects demonstrates the capacity in which the arts can help students learn.”
Arts Learning grants are designed to support high-quality projects that provide responsive opportunity for learning in and through the arts to benefit K-12 students; foster exchange of knowledge between artists and educators; and impact the achievement, skills and/or attitudes of learners.
Applications were evaluated based on project quality and responsiveness, project support and project impact.
Organizations receiving FY2020 Arts Learning grants are located through the state, with High Desert Museum the only one in this region. Other recipients include:
Architecture Foundation of Oregon, Portland
To support Architects in Schools — a curriculum-based, six-week architecture design residency program for third- to fifth-grade Oregon classrooms.
Corvallis Arts Center Inc., Corvallis
To support six-week poetry residencies, including 48 instruction hours, integrated with language arts standards for 240 students in eight classrooms.
Eastern Oregon Regional Arts Council, La Grande
To ensure equitable access to the empowerment of artistic expression through relevant, high-quality, in-school arts experiences for rural youth.
Eugene-Springfield Youth Orchestras, Eugene
To support in-school string instruction at two elementary schools in Eugene and drive the inception of a new orchestra at Cal Young Middle School in 2020.
Fishtrap Inc, Enterprise
To support and enhance Fishtrap’s youth programs, which offer a continuum of writing instruction for students across Eastern Oregon.
Lane Arts Council, Eugene
To support Creative Link, an arts integration program pairing teachers with artists to co-develop and deliver art curricula at two Lane County schools.
Literary Arts Inc, Portland
To support activities to increase student engagement with writing by hosting up to 45 semester-long residencies at 11 Multnomah County high schools.
Miracle Theatre Group, Portland
To support a free three-day bilingual arts-integrated theatre residency for Valor Middle School students in Woodburn.
Music is Instrumental, Lincoln City
To support 333 hours of music instruction from expert technicians (retired musicians/ educators) for K-12 students at three Lincoln City schools.
Oregon Ballet Theatre, Portland
To support OBT LAB (Learn about Ballet) in-school residencies for 730 students at three Title 1 schools: Menlo Park, Greenway and Hartley Elementary.
Oregon Children’s Theatre Company, Portland
To support the Company’s residency program that will reach 500 students through no-cost theater arts programming at five low-income schools.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival Association, Ashland
To support a year of OSF’s School Visit Partnerships for ten Oregon schools including multi-year residencies, plays, classroom curricula and professional development.
Portland Center Stage at The Armory, Portland
To support 26 to 30 hours of workshops for secondary schools and a 15- to 20-hour playwriting residency at a nonprofit youth education program.
Portland Opera Association, Portland
To support a statewide arts education tour bringing live opera performances into K-12 schools and community spaces.
Portland Playhouse, Portland
To support Oregon schools involved in a ten-week after-school theatre program serving students at six to eight middle/high schools in the Portland/Vancouver region.
Regional Arts & Culture Council, Portland
To support whole school arts integration within 11 Gresham-Barlow schools, serving 4,770 students and 385 educators.
Rogue Valley Symphony Association, Ashland
To support the elementary music education program, Link Up, provided to the Phoenix – Talent School District including Classical Coaches for sixth-grade students.
Ross Ragland Theater, Klamath Falls
To support the Theater’s Youth StARTS program, which provides comprehensive arts education for K-sixth-grade students throughout the Klamath County School District.