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For Immediate Release Contact: Christine D'Arcy, (503) 986-0087 The Oregon Arts Commission has announced $30,000 in Arts Education Leadership Grants to support model programs to ensure that the arts are an integral component of education in Oregon. "Because it is important that every Oregon student have access to quality arts education, the Arts Commission is working with partners to build educators' capacity to teach the arts," said Christine D'Arcy, Executive Director of the Commission. "Each of the projects selected for an Arts Education Leadership Grant can add to a teacher's toolkit for teaching, whether it involves creative writing, moving image arts, music or the visual arts." "These Arts Education Leadership Grants recognize the crucial role that arts education plays in creating and motivating successful students, teachers, and communities. The Oregon Arts Commission has identified programs that promise increased capacity for schools and teachers to bring students into a richer and more effective learning environment," added Arts Commissioner Kathleen Davis of Medford who chaired the review panel. Community-based and arts groups submitted requests of over $131,000 to the Oregon Arts Commission. Of the 23 submissions, six projects were selected for funding. The grant recipients are: Literary Arts, Inc., Portland, $4,000 Literary Arts will build the capacity of its Writers in the Schools Program
(WITS), employing professional writers to teach creative writing workshops in
five public schools in Portland. Arts Commission funds will support comprehensive
teacher training, cross-curricular programming and regular residencies in English-as-a-Second
Language and special needs classes. Oregon Alliance for Arts Education, $ 7,000 The Oregon Alliance for Arts Education will expand the offerings of the 2001
Oregon Teacher Arts Institute with Teaching Camera, moving image arts training
by the Portland Art Museum's Northwest Film Center. Teaching Camera will provide
not only additional training for classroom teachers during the Institute but
will also produce a broadcast quality video about the Institute's process, content
and importance shared through the voices of participating teachers. Oregon Folklife Program, Oregon Historical Society, Portland, $4,000 The Oregon Folklife Program will partner with the Oregon Alliance for Arts
Education to research cultural arts resources for Oregon educators, disseminate
an annotated resource directory to schools statewide, and engage educators in
activities related to teaching culture through the arts. The work will contribute
to the planning of the Alliance's 2003 statewide conference which will have
a cultural literacy focus. Oregon Symphony Association, Portland, $5,500 The Oregon Symphony, Oregon's largest professional orchestra, will develop
a teacher training program to assist both general classroom teachers and music
specialists in integrating music instruction into the public school curriculum.
The project builds on the Symphony's Fall, 2001, outreach of The Music Team
and youth concerts in Portland and Salem. Rogue Valley Youth Correctional Facility, Grants Pass, $4,000 The arts program at the Rogue Valley Youth Correctional Facility will be expanded
with the addition of arts activities for youth who are transitioning from the
facility back to their home communities. Through a partnership involving specialists
from the Oregon Youth Authority, the Jackson County Department of Parole/Probation
and treatment mangers at the facility, the added arts programs will focus on
youth who have already participated in arts activities and can use the arts
as a vocational or avocational skill to support their integration back into
the community. Salem Art Association, Salem, $5,500 The Salem Art Association, in partnership with the Western Oregon University
College of Education and Young Audiences, will assist in preparing 300 preservice
teachers to effectively teach to Oregon Standards and Benchmarks in the arts.
The project will address two aspects of arts training for student teachers;
learning the language of visual arts and learning how to apply the arts to classroom
teaching. This work builds on the Salem Art Association's successful partnerships
with Western Oregon University in arts curriculum development and with Young
Audiences of Oregon and SW Washington's Arts for Learning comprehensive arts
education program. Funding for Oregon's Arts Education Leadership Grants has been provided through the Challenge America Initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts. The Oregon Arts Commission provides leadership, funding and arts programs through its grants, special initiatives and services. Nine Commissioners, appointed by the Governor, determine arts needs and establish policies for public support of the arts. The Arts Commission became part of the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department in 1993, in recognition of the expanding role the arts play in the broader social, economic and educational arenas of Oregon communities. Dated for freshness! Page last updated March 21, 2009 |
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