Laura Reeder, Executive Director, Partners for Arts Education

Partners for Arts Education (PAE) now offers two grant programs for all artists, cultural organizations, and schools in New York State. The Technical Assistance Program (TAP) is a program previously administered by the New York Foundation for the Arts, and School Arts Partnership (SAP) grants will provide mid-level support for partnerships that are too extensive to be funded in regional Local Capacity Building sites, but not yet large enough to be funded by the New York State Council on the Arts’ Empire State Partnerships program.

TAP grants are available for artists, cultural organizations, and schools to cover the expense of consultants and travel for field development. Grants may be up to $1,000, and the deadlines are October 1, 2003, March 1, 2004, and June 1, 2004 for the upcoming program year.

SAP grants are available for artists, cultural organizations, and schools to develop sustained relationships through partnership. This is an interim resource between Local Capacity Building and Empire State Partnership level funding. Grants are for up to $10,000, and the deadline is October 31, 2003 for this program year. Funds become available in early December.

PAE maintains an arts education network for New York State, linking the everyday practice of the arts to the community of educators that seek to develop curricula with artists and cultural organizations. For information, please visit the Partners for Arts Education website at www.arts4ed.org or call Laura Reeder or Sue Stonecash at 315.234.9911.

NYSCA's Statewide Local Capacity Building Initiative

Nan Westervelt, Consultant, Local Capacity Building Initiative

Thousands of students, teachers, artists, and arts organizations in every New York State county benefit from the Local Capacity Building (LCB) Initiative, a statewide re-granting system supported by the Arts in Education Program of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). The $756,000 initiative supports schools in the formation of partnerships with cultural institutions and/or artists to create New York State Learning Standards-based curricula that are interdisciplinary and/or integrated in the study of non-arts subjects and the arts or environmental sciences.

Local decision-making is a hallmark of the LCB Initiative, and 26 NYSCA-designated nonprofit organizations use a peer panel review process to fund hundreds of partnership projects that contribute to school improvement in and through the arts. In addition to funding projects, LCB sites offer:

• Technical assistance in program planning; identification of local, statewide, and national arts in education resources; and grant writing services;
• Outreach in the form of application seminars, publicity, personal contacts, and speaking opportunities to all constituents in a service area;
• Professional development workshops and opportunities on topics such as collaboration, effective planning strategies, evaluation, and student assessment for both grantees and non-grantees.

The LCB Initiative provides a direct link between state arts councils and local participation in arts in education, and continues to build capacity at the local level for schools and their partners to conduct successful arts in education programs.

For information about the LCB grant-making program in every New York State county, see the Arts in Education Resources section of NYSCA’s website at www.nysca.org.