Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth

Introduction

The National Endowment for the Arts is committed to providing leadership in arts education by inspiring all young Americans through rich arts experiences. A high quality education in the arts opens a critical gateway to a lifetime of appreciation and engagement. For two reasons, learning in the arts is an indispensable part of American education: 1) children celebrate and participate in their cultural inheritance, and 2) academic and social maturity follow directly from arts education experiences.

The Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth category offers funding for projects that help children and youth acquire knowledge and understanding of and skills in the arts. Projects must provide participatory learning and engage students with skilled artists, teachers, and excellent art. Funded projects apply national or state arts education standards. All projects submitted to the Learning in the Arts category must include:

• Experience: Students and their teachers will have the chance to experience exemplary works of art -- in live form where possible.

• Study: Through the guidance of teachers, teaching artists, and cultural organizations, students will study works of art in order to understand the cultural and social context from which they come, and to appreciate the technical and/or aesthetic qualities of each work. Where appropriate, study will include the acquisition of skills relevant to practicing the art form.

• Performance: Informed by their experience and study, students will create artwork. In the case of literature, the primary creative activities will be writing and/or recitation.

• Assessment: Students will be assessed according to national or state arts education standards. Where appropriate, projects will employ multiple forms of assessment including pre- and post-testing.

NOTE: The required Learning in the Arts components may be provided in partnership with other organizations.

The Arts Endowment strongly endorses the arts as a core academic subject area. Organizations must provide curriculum frameworks and carefully designed evaluations to assess every child's progress in achieving proficiency in the arts. In this category, the Arts Endowment hopes to call attention to projects that recognize and cultivate best practices in the field of arts education for children and youth.

Learning in the Arts projects may take place in school-based or community-based settings and should focus on children and youth in the general age range of 5 through 18 years. (NOTE: Adult and intergenerational learning is supported under Access to Artistic Excellence.)

These guidelines divide Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth into two areas:

School-Based

School-based projects are for children and youth between kindergarten and grade 12, are directly connected to the school curriculum and instructional program, and ensure the application of national or state arts education standards. Such activities may take place in or outside of the school building at any time of the day. This includes after-school and summer enrichment programs that are formally connected to school curricula. Projects also may address professional development for teachers, teaching artists, and school administrators.

NOTE: The Arts Endowment does not make awards directly to individual elementary or secondary schools -- charter, private, or public. Schools may participate as partners in projects for which another eligible organization applies. Local education agencies (school districts) and state and regional education agencies are eligible. If a single school also is the local education agency, as is the case with some charter schools, the school may apply with documentation that supports its status as the local education agency.

Community-Based

Community-based projects are for children and youth generally between ages 5 and 18. This area supports important activities and training in the arts that occur outside of the school system. Activities must occur outside of the regular school day, and may take place in a variety of settings. These activities may be offered by arts organizations or by other community-based, non-arts organizations or agencies in partnership with artists and arts groups. While not formally linked to schools or their instructional programs, projects must be based on a curriculum that ensures the application of national or state arts education standards. Projects may include professional development for teachers, artists, and program providers.

Deadline

June 11, 2009, Application Deadline
June 1, 2010, Earliest Beginning Date for Arts Endowment Period of Support

Contacts

Learning in the Arts Specialists:

Dance, Music, Opera: brandenburg@arts.gov or 202/682-5044

Literature, Musical Theater, Theater: daughern@arts.gov or
202/682-5521

Folk & Traditional Arts, Multidisciplinary, Presenting: liut@arts.gov or 202/682-5690

Design, Local Arts Agencies, Media Arts, Museums, Visual Arts: edwardsl@arts.gov or
202/682-5704

Choosing the Right Category for Children and Youth Projects

An organization should determine if its project offers each of the four educational components of experience, study, performance, and assessment as defined above. If one or more of these components is not germane to the project, then the organization should consider submitting its application to the Access to Artistic Excellence category and not Learning in the Arts.

Learning in the Arts projects actively involve children and youth in learning activities that require a substantial and sustained investment of time, have significant curricular impact, and involve sequential and comprehensive arts learning.

Access to Artistic Excellence is for projects for children and youth where the focus is exposure to or appreciation of the arts, whether activities take place in school, after school, during the summer, or in community settings. Such projects may include performances by or exhibitions of professional artists. These arts events may be accompanied by ancillary learning activities (e.g., study guides for teachers and students, artists' visits prior to or following the event, workshops, lecture-demonstrations, or master classes).

The Challenge America Fast-Track Review Grants category does not fund projects that involve curriculum-based instruction in the arts.

If you have questions about the appropriate category for your project, please contact a Learning in the Arts specialist.

Projects

Learning in the Arts grants encourage efforts that enhance the quality of and access to arts learning for our nation's children and youth. Projects must address experience, study, performance, and assessment. Projects that are based at higher education institutions are eligible if they have a direct impact on children and youth. Projects may include but are not limited to:

• Projects that engage children and youth over an extended period to increase their proficiency in and understanding of an arts discipline, genre, or form.

• Projects that explore new ways to integrate arts learning with learning in other subjects.

• Projects in which artists, whose training specifically includes education, or arts organizations provide a series of lessons or courses in the arts that have explicit learning objectives that ensure the application of national or state arts education standards.

• Projects that provide rigorous, challenging summer arts education that enables children and youth to acquire knowledge and skills in the arts as well as gain lifelong interests in the arts and culture.

• Artists' engagements that provide instruction in the arts for children and youth for one week or longer during non-school hours and that may complement the school curriculum of the intended beneficiaries. Such projects may furnish space, project material, equipment, job training, and guidance in locations such as arts organizations, community centers, schools, faith-based organizations, public housing, tribal communities, or juvenile facilities.

• Professional development programs that increase the knowledge and skills of teachers, artists, youth program providers, and others who work in arts learning with children and youth.

• Projects that involve NEA National Heritage Fellows in the Folk & Traditional Arts and arts learning, with goals and assessment based on the values and benchmarks appropriate to the traditions studied.

Application Review

The Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth category uses the agency's traditional method of application review. Applications submitted to the Learning in the Arts staff are reviewed by a diverse group of arts experts and individuals with broad knowledge related to arts learning.

Applications are reviewed on the basis of artistic excellence and artistic merit. For more detailed information on how artistic excellence and artistic merit will be evaluated, see the "Review Criteria." You can find additional information in the "Application Review" section of the "Frequently Asked Questions."

We Do Not Fund

In addition to the "We Do Not Fund" section for all Grants for Arts Projects applicants, funding under the Learning in the Arts category is not available for:

• Research on the impact of the arts on the cognitive and social development of children and youth.

• Projects with the primary focus of evaluation, documentation, and dissemination of promising or proven arts learning programs and practices.

Organizations with projects that are not eligible under this category may want to review the opportunities that are offered by their state arts agency. Find your state arts agency here.

Outcomes

The Arts Endowment has identified two outcomes that it plans to achieve through Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth. Each applicant must select the one outcome listed below that is most relevant to its project and indicate this in its application:

1. Children and youth demonstrate increased skills, knowledge, and/or understanding of the arts, consistent with national or state arts education standards.

2. Teachers, artists, and other educators demonstrate increased knowledge and skills necessary to engage children and youth in arts learning, consistent with national or state arts education standards.

Each applicant should be as specific as possible in describing how its project will achieve and demonstrate the outcome selected. Project goals, activities, and outcomes should be clearly defined and carefully integrated.

For more information on arts education standards, please see Learning in the Arts: State and National Standards for Arts Education.

If you wish to apply:

CFDA No. 45.024
OMB No. 3135-0112 Expires 11/30/2010
January 2009

National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20506