These are expired guidelines. New guidelines will be posted in mid-December 2015.
Arts education is vital to developing America’s next generation of creative and innovative thinkers. Every student should have the opportunity to participate in the arts, both in and out of school. We know that students who participate in the arts are more engaged in life and are empowered to be fulfilled, responsible citizens who can make a profound positive impact on this world. In addition, NEA-supported research has shown that students from low socioeconomic backgrounds who have arts-rich experiences are more likely to achieve key positive outcomes—academically, socially, and civically—compared with their peers who lack access to arts experiences.
Our arts education funding is focused on students. Projects are for pre-K-12 students, the educators and civic leaders who support them, and the schools and communities that serve them. All students are served when each level of the system is supported. Applicants should consider what role their proposed project plays within this system, and the impact their project has on students.
We support three types of projects:
- Direct Learning Grants to increase student knowledge and skills in the arts. Projects must provide extended participatory learning that engages students with accomplished artists and arts educators, align with either national or state arts education standards, and rigorously assess student learning.
- Professional Development Grants to deepen knowledge and strengthen the practice of educators and/or civic leaders who engage students in arts learning. Projects must provide meaningful opportunities for participants to experience the arts, provide in-depth learning over a sustained period of time, and measure the impact of the professional development experience.
- Collective Impact Grants to ensure that all students across entire schools, school districts, and/or states – in communities of all sizes – participate in the arts over time. Projects must be either for emerging new work or for sustaining and growing established networks that are proven to increase arts education for all students. Projects will also have significant potential to be shared and customized in communities across the country. Longer project periods are encouraged, and larger grant amounts may be awarded for these projects.
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts. In...
