ARTS FOR SCHOOLS
Overview
Closed | Next Cycle Opens Spring 2025
Exposure to the arts, both in and outside the classroom, is proven to improve academic success. However, not all students have the same opportunities to enjoy these benefits. The Arts for Schools grant program helps Buncombe County nonprofit arts organizations and teaching artists provide arts focused performances, workshops, residencies, field trips for students attending Buncombe County and City of Asheville K-12 public schools. For a limited time, this grant will also include support for arts focused afterschool and camp programs. Grants range from $500-5,000. The deadline to apply is June 17, 2024 at 11:59 pm.
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FY24 Arts for Schools recipient: Wortham Center for the Performing Arts’ All for Kids program
WITH ADDITIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDED BY:
Ray Griffin & Thom Robinson
Application Process
Eligibility & Requirements
The primary purpose of the Arts for Schools program is to provide in school arts programming for students attending economically disadvantaged schools. Our goal is to help ensure that students across Buncombe County have access to the benefits of these arts experiences.
Thanks to a time limited grant from Dogwood Health Trust’s WNC After 3 program, the Arts for Schools grant program will be expanded from FY25-27. During this period, applicants may apply for funding for in school and out of school programs, but will only receive funding for one focus area per funding cycle. Grants for in school programs range from $500-$2,000, and grants for out of school programs range from $500-$5,000.
In school is defined as programs occurring during regular school hours, and out of school programs are defined as occurring afterschool (weekdays only) or camps (summer or holiday breaks).
Please note: The primary focus of the WNC After 3 program is on afterschool programming, so afterschool programming will receive priority over other out of school programs. We also want to help ensure the longevity of these programs, so capacity building will also be a consideration.
ELIGIBILITY & REQUIREMENTS
- Applicants must be located in Buncombe County for at least 1 year.
- Applicants must be a 501c3 nonprofit arts organization OR a qualified teaching artist.
- Qualified Teaching Artist: To be considered a qualified teaching artist, you must have either a BA or BFA in their specific art form, or an equivalent in training and experience.
- Must have at least 5 years of experience working in arts education.
- Programs must serve students in Buncombe County or City of Asheville K-12 public schools.
- Programs must be free for students and schools (this could include providing a specific number of scholarships).
- Align with North Carolina’s Common Core curriculum and Essential Standards
- Program must take place between July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025. Programs do not need to be scheduled by application date – however, funded programs must take place between July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025.
- For in school programs: A school partnership agreement form is required as part of your application.
- For out of school programs: Applicants are ineligible to apply if they already receive funding for the proposed arts-focused program from Dogwood Health Trust’s WNC After 3pm initiative. For questions regarding eligibility, please contact rebecca@artsavl.org.
- For camps: Only 501c3 nonprofit arts organizations may apply for funding for camps, and the camp must be a program of that arts nonprofit.
ALLOWABLE EXPENSES
Examples of appropriate use of funds include: artist fees (only for artists located in Buncombe County for the specific school program(s) outlined in the proposal), student materials/art supplies, admission fees, and transportation fees for students to attend an arts experience.
Funding may not be used for:
- fees for artists not located in Buncombe County
- fees for school groups not located in Buncombe County
- transportation fees/ travel costs not related to students
- marketing materials; food/ hospitality supplies
- art, music, and dance therapists
- artifacts
- purchasing artwork
- contingency funds
- deficit reduction
- fundraising events
- food or beverages for hospitality or entertainment functions
- school band activities or equipment
- school choral activities or equipment
- lobbying expenses
- oral history and history projects
- tuition for academic study
- interest on loans, fines or litigation cost
Priorities
Economically Disadvantaged Schools: Proposals focused on serving students in Economically Disadvantaged Schools will receive priority (view school rankings). Learn more about how economic disadvantage is determined here. Applicants will also have the opportunities to explain how their program serves an underserved community.
Multicultural Programs: Although our top priority is serving Economically Disadvantaged Schools, we will also prioritize multicultural programs. For a program to be considered multicultural it must be conducted by artists, ensembles, or organizations of color and/or promote African American, Asian American, Latino, or Native American cultures.
Capacity Building for Afterschool Programs: The primary focus of the WNC After 3pm program is on afterschool programming, so out of school applications focusing on afterschool will receive priority over other out of school programs. Proposals that help ensure the long term sustainability of these programs will also be prioritized.
2024-25 Timeline
- May 13, 2024 | Application opens
- June 17, 2024 | Application deadline
- Mid July 2024 | Awards Announced
- Late July 2024 | Funds distributed
- May 31, 2025 | Final report due
Application & Support Resources
Application Link
Now closed (Question PDF). The deadline to apply was June 17, 2024 at 11:59 pm.
Support Resources
Grant Guidelines (PDF)
Overview for Applicants (Video | Slides)
If you need help with your application or have specific questions, email us at rebecca@artsavl.org. No phone calls, please. If you would like to discuss your application, please email us to set up an appointment.
2024-2025 Award Recipients
Anna Kimmell, theatre artist and educator, will offer an immersive residency to fourth grade students at Johnston Elementary in Spring 2025. Students will build original narratives, hone language abilities, gain theatre skills, and express themselves creatively, connecting playwriting and performance to their English/Language Arts learning module. Funds will be used for artist fees and theatre supplies, including scripts, costumes, and props.
Asheville Chamber Music, Inc. will engage the Isidore String Quartet for a matinee performance in front of over 600 students as part of the city-wide Asheville Amadeus Festival. The interactive concert experience featuring professional performers of color is designed to appeal to area students, whether or not they currently play stringed instruments. The Arts for Schools Grant will allow Asheville Chamber Music to help schools cover the costs of transportation to the performance and to cover student ticket admissions, with the goal of providing a completely free performance for all schools interested in attending.
Asheville City Schools Foundation’s (ACSF) Teaching Artists Presenting in Asheville Schools (TAPAS) Program is an inclusive, arts-based education program that employs local, high-quality artist residencies in grades K-12 to create and deliver rich arts-based instruction across curricula. ACSF will use Arts for Schools grant funds to support the expansion of the TAPAS program into three Asheville City Schools’ 21st Century Community Learning Centers’ (CCLC) afterschool programs: Hall Fletcher Elementary, Lucy S. Herring Elementary, and Claxton Elementary.
Asheville Symphony Orchestra is hosting the Young People’s Concerts program, designed to serve as an immersive musical experience and educational tool to introduce Asheville City and Buncombe County fifth-grade students to the world of classical music. The program will serve approximately 2,000 Asheville City fifth-grade students when it returns in March 2025. Each concert is curated to include entertaining selections from the orchestral repertoire that are carefully chosen to align with educational themes relevant to the student’s curriculum.
Asheville Creative Arts is a professional arts organization that produces, presents, and creates innovative, performance-based, visual, and multimedia works for multigenerational and multiethnic audiences. The Arts for Schools grant will support their new extracurricular series, Authentically Me. Designed for K-5th grade students, each class will focus on a specific arts skill that will help students explore things like how their bodies move, how and where emotions are felt, and will use theater activities to build social emotional skills imperative to success later in life.
Buncombe County Schools Foundation (BCSF) will use the Artist Support Grant to provide artist fees for its Global Grooves program, which will boost arts exposure through a live performance to all 7th grade students in Buncombe County Schools. BCSF will work with their partner in education, LEAF Global Arts, to provide musical performances. Students will attend a 45-minute musical performance and have the opportunity to interact with the performers after the show. Curriculum resources will also be provided to the teachers to give background knowledge as well as follow-up reflection questions to assess the impact of the experience and learning.
Colaborativa La Milpa’s Raíces Emma Erwin is an after school program for Latine middle school students focused on traditional Mexican Folklorico dance. It also serves as a way to strengthen cultural identity through learning traditional folklórico dance and its history while also speaking Spanish. Raíces will hold an average of eight folklórico community performances a year which, too, is foundational to community pride and strong relationships. The Arts for Schools Grant will be used to pay teaching artists and purchase performance wear to meet the need for their middle school youth, who tend to grow quickly from year to year.
Dancing Drum will utilize grant funds for School Drum Day – Drumming Up World Music. School Drum Day is an interactive multicultural program for K-5 students to learn and play rhythms from West Africa, the Caribbean and Brazil. Students will have the opportunity to play several drums and percussion instruments in a hands-on, interactive workshop. Students at W.D. Williams and Pisgah Elementary schools will experience the thrill of making music together with their classmates as they experiment with exciting rhythms, vocal chants, musical games and teamwork activities.
Journeymen, a program that provides teenagers with arts programs and community groups that incorporate creative projects, music, and wilderness programs, will focus its funding on their Journeymen Afterschool Multicultural Music Program. The afterschool program for teenage boys focuses on inspiring self expression and creativity through making music and art. With grant funding, they will cover more student fees for art materials, recording sessions for our music class, as well as artist fees for the mentors who oversee the art and music activities.
LEAF Global Arts will use the Arts for Schools grant to support its Songs for Peace project in an after school environment, engaging 5th-8th graders with local BIPOC songwriters in music and video creation. In addition, LEAF Schools & Streets will collaborate with YMCA of Western North Carolina and Owen Middle School to facilitate unique choral music experiences. Songs for Peace gives students opportunities to learn about music from different cultural influences and gives a voice to youth to share messages of inclusion and unity.
Local Cloth will launch a new pilot program: Farm to Fiberarts In the Blue Ridge (FIBR). With FIBR, children will create fiber art with Local Cloth during summer camps and after school programs. Led by teaching artist Emolyn Liden, Local Cloth will host a teen sewing camp and a Farm to Fabric summer camp for ages 8-13. The rich textile history and tradition of the Blue Ridge Mountains will be brought to the hands of future generations by Local Cloth’s teaching artists during the summer of 2024, and in Sand Hill Venable YMCA afterschool program during the 2024-25 school year.
Nica Rabinowitz will expand her Connecting Through Cloth program, opening it to students across Buncombe County. The Arts for Schools grant will allow Rabinowitz to offer 12 full scholarships to students from Buncombe County Schools and Asheville City Schools whose families self-identify as needing financial assistance. By opening Connecting Through Cloth Afterschool programming to students at the middle and high school levels, Rabinowitz will broaden the types of projects to include turning weavings into garments, as well as teaching students to felt, sew, and manipulate fabric. Participating students will have access to locally farmed and foraged plant and animal fibers, connecting to our region’s fiber farming network.
Playground Stage Children’s (PSG) Theatre partners with Buncombe County Schools to offer after-school theatre classes to elementary school students. In the 2024-25 school year, PGS will offer musical theatre after-school classes in the fall and musical production classes in the spring. During these classes, children meet with their Playground Stage Teaching Artist after school to learn musical theatre technique and learn how to put together a performance. Arts for Schools funding will allow PGS to offer scholarships for K-6th Grade classes at Buncombe County Elementary Schools.
Umoja Health, Wellness, and Justice Collective (Umoja) is a Black-led organization working with youth at the intersection of youth leadership, substance use recovery, and advocacy. Umoja will utilize their Arts for Schools grant to support the after school sessions of the John R. Hayes High Steppin’ Majorette and Drum Corp (historically known as Hillcrest High Steppin’ Majorette and Drum Corp). Founded by Elder John Hayes in 1977, Hillcrest was once the largest and best-known Black community-based marching band in Asheville. Michael Hayes, the Founder and ED for Umoja, and Elder Hayes’ son, will lead the Hillcrest program, honoring Elder Hayes’ legacy and allowing youth to build self-esteem through self-expression.