In keeping with the call to action from the new Strategic Plan, and the work done by RISCA staff in Fall 2021, RISCA has revisited, revised, and relaunched the Projects Grants in Education.
A working group of 9 teaching artists, classroom teachers, representatives from local arts nonprofits and school-based administrators from around the state, facilitated by Maggie Anderson and Emma Becker, recreated the guidelines and fundable activities for this grant program. Invitations were sent to community members to serve on the working group in January 2022. The working group met for the first time in February 2022, and then had monthly working meetings in March, April and May. The working group was tasked with bringing RISCA’s education granting into alignment with: Our new strategic plan, Current and emerging best practices in granting, Other state agencies granting in education, namely RIDE, and the needs of the arts education community in Rhode Island.
It was important to the committee that the new program reduce access barriers to application process and directly ask and engage teaching artists and educators in the ideation and creation of these grants – bringing participatory grantmaking to the program process. They recommended a guideline format which is less formal with less legalese. We also reduced the length of the application to only the critical information a panel needs to make an informed decision. We redesigned the look to include images, a table of contents, an application check list and FAQ and Glossary.
The Breakdown
Who can apply:
- Pre-K-12 schools based in Rhode Island (public, public charter, private, alternative, special education schools, career and technical centers).
- Nonprofit or fiscally sponsored organizations based in Rhode Island.
- Arts educators and teaching artists in partnership with a school based in Rhode Island.
Program Priorities
- Pre-K-12 In-School Projects
- Projects that authentically match students and school populations with teaching artists from shared cultural backgrounds and experiences
- Projects that center learners: of varying abilities; in non-traditional academic programs; of Africana, Latina, Asian, and Native American Diasporas (ALANDs); or of “economically disadvantaged” status as defined by the RI Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Project Requirements
- Projects must include a drafted lesson plan with clearly stated learning goals, intended outcomes, and means for evaluation.
- Projects must consist of a minimum of 8 contact hours with the same teaching artist(s) and a distinct group of learners. These contact sessions must occur on separate days.
- Projects must consist of in-depth, sequential, and participatory learning opportunities incorporating one or more art forms.
Further Project Requirements
- Pre-K-12 In-School Projects:
Applicant must be a school/district or an individual with a partner school letter of support.
- Community Based Learning Projects:
Non-profit organizations must be the applicant; projects must occur in a dedicated learning environment with a distinct group of learners. Individuals may not be the applicant for a community-based learning project.
For more information, contact: Maggie.Anderson@arts.ri.gov.
Links
New Project Grants in Education Power Point, click here.
For other Project Grants for Education materials, click here.