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9/15/2008
CHICAGO (September 15, 2008) – As education budgets tighten, schools may find it tough to keep art programs alive. That’s why PTA is proud to announce the recipients of the national Mary Lou Anderson Reflections Arts Enhancement Grant—a matching grant for student-centered arts education programs.
The objective of the grant program is to enhance arts education for students in the classroom or other learning environments through a community effort to introduce activities, materials, new technologies, techniques, and the introduction of visiting artists programs. This year’s winners are:
- Chestnut Elementary School PTA in Painesville, Ohio, will employ an artist in residence to stage a bilingual production of The Wizard of Oz as an after-school program. The artist in residence will direct the production while parent, school, and community volunteers head teams of students in set design, costuming, music, and acting.
- Crittenden Middle School PTA in Mountain View, California, will host a “poetry year” featuring a poet in residence who will conduct four weeks of poetry workshops for all 7th-graders and a two-hour professional development seminar for all teachers on integrating poetry into lessons plans. The year will also include VIP poetry readings by members of the community among other poetry reading, writing, and performing activities.
- Berwyn Heights Elementary School PTA in Berwyn Heights, Maryland, will connect science and art by engaging the entire school—plus school visitors and community members—in creating a mosaic mural of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. This collaborative “Web of Life” mosaic, to be a permanent fixture on the exterior of the school, will be grounded in students’ classroom learning.
The grant recipients were chosen based on creativity of the program, and the number of at risk students who are reached. Special consideration was given to programs centered on helping children whose environmental, familial, and/or socioeconomic situation may affect their academic success or ability to learn.
The grant program complements PTA’s long-standing commitment to quality arts education in public schools by providing funds to local PTAs to establish or enhance school arts programs in one or more arts areas: visual arts, photography, music (including dance), and literature (including theater). Local PTAs must submit complete applications and provide funds that match the amount they are requesting from the national PTA organization.
As the nation’s largest volunteer parent organization, PTA comprises more than 5 million members, including parents, students, educators, school administrators, and business and community leaders. With more than 25,000 local units, PTA flourishes in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Department of Defense schools in Europe and the Pacific. PTA is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Membership in PTA is open to anyone who is concerned about the education, health, and welfare of children and youth.
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