ArtsWA Fiscal Year 2019 grant cycle opening soon

We are pleased to announce that grant applications for Fiscal Year 2019 (FY19) will be available very soon! The Arts in Education First Step guidelines are being released today, and the Grants to Organizations - Project Support Level A guidelines will be released within a week. Both of these grants have application deadlines in mid-March. Other opening dates and deadlines vary, so please check our website over the next couple of weeks for updated information including information on our new online application system, ZoomGrants. We think applicants will find this system user-friendly and easy to navigate, but encourage both new and returning applicants to allow a little extra time to learn this new system. 
 
Visit the Arts in Education and Grants to Organizations pages for information on levels of funding, timelines, guidelines, and other details including dates for informational webinars.  

New Certified Creative Districts program launches  community readiness toolkit

The recently created Creative Districts program has launched its Community Readiness Toolkit, an online resource for communities throughout Washington State that wish to seek state-certified Creative District designation. Based on economic and community development best practices, this Community Readiness Toolkit will help communities orient their thinking around how to create a successful district.
 
The Toolkit contains a number of resources for a community to refer to when planning its creative district, including a workbook, handouts and presentations, economic development reference articles, and more.
 



School champions from around the state head to regional Poetry Out Loud competitions

Students from 68 high schools across Washington State are engaged this school year in exploring the amazing power and diversity of poetry, recited out loud. After working at the classroom level, classroom competitions are held to send students to school-wide competitions. The champions from each of these school-wide events will advance to the next level at the regional finals, where they will recite with other school champions from their area of the state. Those regional finals will be held during the last week of January and the first week of February.
 
Top students from these regional competitions will advance to the Washington State Final to be held in Tacoma on March 10, 2018. The State Champion receives $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to compete in the Poetry Out Loud national championship and a chance to win a $50,000 scholarship. Both State and Regional finals are  open to the public.  
 
The Washington State Poetry Out Loud program is produced by the Washington State Arts Commission, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation, and additional local support from Servco Foundation. Schools in Washington State serving students grades 9-12 are eligible to participate; nearly 20,000 students in Washington State participated at the classroom level this year. 

Education Week,  a national newspaper covering K-12 education, sent reporter Catherine Gewertz to visit Lance Fisher's English class at Mount Vernon High School recently. She wanted to see first hand how Poetry Out Loud is taught in the classroom. Read what students and teachers told her about how the program supports student learning.


Lucinda Parker,  6 Paintings for Lake Roosevelt Schools:Two Swan s, 2016. 
Located at Lake Roosevelt Elementary, Coulee Dam. Photo courtesy the artist.


Recent acquisitions to the State Art Collection: 
July 2016 to June 2017

ArtsWA's Art in Public Places program manages the State Art Collection, taking care of existing artworks and acquiring new ones at K-12 public schools, colleges, universities, and state agencies throughout Washington. Public art projects are funded through a formula of one-half of one-percent of the cost of new, state-funded building construction.
 
New acquisitions completed over the past fiscal year (July 2016 to June 2017), are located across Washington state from Spokane to Seattle, Grand Coulee to Vancouver, and are now online. Meanwhile, half of the 4,600 artworks of the State Art Collection, including all artwork acquired since 2005, can now be easily found through My Public Art Portal.


for more information about new acquisitions 
or the State Art Collection
 

Join fellow arts supporters for
Arts & Heritage Day February 7th in Olympia

Arts & Heritage Day, an annual congregation of artists, humanities and heritage leaders, and cultural professionals from across Washington state will be held on February 7, 2018 at the State Capitol in Olympia. The gathering is an opportunity to talk with legislators about statewide arts and heritage issues and share specific success stories and highlights from local arts and heritage communities. 

Those who come the day before can attend several pre-activities on February 6th, including: an Outreach workshop from 9-3:30 a.m.; a welcome reception at the State Capital Museum (211 21st Ave SW) from 5-7 p.m. and later that evening a Sip and Chat with ArtsWA commission members at Water Street Cafe (610 Water St SW) at 7:30 p.m. The welcome reception, hosted by the State Museum Association, is open to all arts supporters and the legislative community, but the Museum Association requests an RSVP be sent to  [email protected]. The ArtsWA Commission Sip and Chat is a drop-in, no-host event open to the public.
 
On February 7th, Arts & Heritage Day attendees are welcome to join the regular 7 a.m. Wednesday morning meeting of the Legislative Heritage Caucus at the Cherberg Building, Room ABC on the Capitol Campus. The official start time for Arts & Heritage Day activities (including sign in and orientation) begins at 8 a.m. in the Pritchard Building's Washington Room. ArtsWA and Humanities Washington staff will hold "office hours" from 10-11 a.m. for anyone wanting information about grants and program opportunities. Attendees can also sign up to meet with their legislative representatives, as well as attend a lunch time gathering (11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m.) featuring performances by a variety of artists.
 
Arts & Heritage Day is hosted by the Washington State Arts Alliance, Washington Museum Association, Washington State Historical Society, ArtsEd Washington, Artist Trust, and ArtsWA. 

 

ArtsWA FY 2017 Annual Report

From our Arts in Education and Grants to Organizations programs, to our award-winning Art in Public Places program, and our partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, ArtsWA's work reflects and supports Washington State's creative vitality. Read about our key accomplishments in our recently published FY 2017 Annual Report.

  FY 2017 Annual Report  (online Issuu version)

FY 2017 Annual Report (download the pdf version)
The Washington State Arts Commission is committed to values of inclusion, diversity, equity, and creative expression. We believe in diverse forms of artistic expression, and we believe in access to arts and arts education for all individuals in our state. The arts can and should play a role in addressing inequities, modeling inclusion, and teaching empathy.
For more information contact:
Glenda Carino | W. 360.586.8093 | C: 360.259.7862 | g [email protected]
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