Funding Opportunity

National Endowment for the Arts 2015 Funding Guidelines

CONTACT: Victoria Hutter, hutterv@arts.gov, 202-682-5692

Arts Works and Challenge America have February, April, and July 2015 deadlines

Washington, DC—Guidelines and application materials for two National Endowment for the Arts funding categories have been posted on the NEA’s website. The 2015 Art Works and Challenge America programs support projects anticipated to take place beginning in 2016. Any non-profit 501(c)3 organization, unit of state or local government, or federally recognized tribal community with at least a three year programming history is eligible to apply for project-based support through these two programs. Together, Art Works and Challenge America constitute approximately 75 percent of the NEA’s annual direct grantmaking (exclusive of state and regional partnership agreements).

CATEGORY DESCRIPTIONS
Art Works is the NEA’s largest funding category, supporting the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and the strengthening of communities through the arts. Matching grants generally range from $10,000 to $100,000.  In fiscal year 2014, the NEA supported 1799 grants totaling $49.4 million through Art Works. The deadlines for Art Works applications are February 19 and July 23, 2015 depending on the artistic discipline and/or type of project for which an organization seeks support.

Challenge America offers support primarily to small and mid-sized organizations for projects that extend the reach of the arts to underserved populations—those whose opportunities to experience the arts are limited by geography, ethnicity, economics, or disability. In fiscal year 2014, Challenge America funded 147 grants totaling $1.47 million. The deadline for Challenge America is April 16, 2015.

Guidelines and application materials are in the Apply for a Grant section of the NEA website.

PAST ART WORKS AND CHALLENGE AMERICA GRANTS
To see the kinds of projects supported through these two categories, go to the Recent Grants section of the NEA website.

WEBINARS: SIGN UP AND ARCHIVES
In order to offer potential applicants the highest level of technical assistance, the NEA has scheduled webinars covering the basics of the Art Works and Challenge America funding categories, including how to apply to the NEA, how to select work samples, and how to prepare a strong application. After each presentation, there will be time for Q and A with NEA staff.

The Art Works webinar is scheduled for January 21, 2015 at 3:00 p.m. ET. The Challenge America session will be on March 11, 2015 at 3:00 p.m. ET. To sign up for either or both webinars, go to the webinar section of the NEA website.

Both webinars will be archived shortly after each event and posted on the NEA website in the webinar section.

About the National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $5 billion to strengthen the creative capacity of our communities by providing all Americans with diverse opportunities for arts participation. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector. To join the discussion on how art works, visit the NEA at www.arts.gov.

Arts Across Content Areas

Workshop – January 24 – from Kevin Facer

I would like to invite you to attend Integration the Arts Across Content Areas workshop on January 24, 2015 at Wentworth Intermediate School in Scarborough. The cost is $20.00 per person and 6.0 contact hours are available for full-day participation. The workshop facilitators will be Dr. Louise Pascale, of Lesley University and  Dr. Lisa Donovan of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, both have extensive knowledge and experience in arts integration and will lead the workshop. All participants must pre-register by using the link below. Registration will close at 35 participants.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TC6LXYR

Workshop Description
This workshop will investigate how arts integration can support comprehension skills.  Drawing from Common Core standards, we will learn strategies in drama, music, visual arts, storytelling and poetry that provide flexible options for students to access curriculum and diverse ways of expressing understanding.  You will see the role of the arts based learning in differentiation and performance assessment.
Variability in learners is a given and arts integration can provide flexible strategies to provide students with more ways to access curriculum, engage with materials and demonstrate understanding.

Strategies Covered
Visual Art Strategy: Bookmaking
Visual Art Strategy: Observational Drawing
Storytelling Strategy: Personal Storytelling
Drama Strategy: Tableaux
Music Strategy: Soundscape
Poetry Strategy: Observation Poems

Workshop Schedule

8:30 –9:00                 Greetings, introductions – grade level, outline of day, goal setting, overview
9:00                             Warm up –Discussion importance of warm ups
9:15 –                          Introduction of the Arts as a strategy for Common Core.  (with PowerPoint)
8:45-9:15                    Expanding the notion of literacy—Strategy: Bookmaking
10:15-10:45                Strategy: Storytelling –  Text to self connections as a prelude to exploring a text
10:45 – 11:30             Explore sounds in exemplar text: Strategy Soundscape Activating the mood and sensory environment.
11:45-12:30                Strategy: Tableaux  Activating text looking at character and scene.
12:30 – 12:45            Strategy: Observational drawing  Drawing to observe.

12:45 – 1:15                Lunch Break
1:15 – 1:30                  Warm up
1:30 – 2:00                Finish Sketching. Create Observation Poems drawing from drawing observations and     nonfiction text.
2:00 – 3:00                Curriculum Design: Work in grade level groups with text.  Make direct connections to curriculum
3:00 – 3:30               Closure/Next Steps

There is a $20.00 fee that covers the cost of supplies and lunch.

If you have questions please contact Kevin Facer, VPA specialist, Maine Department of Education at Kevin.Facer@maine.gov.