Budgeting for the Arts
Photo of middle school boy making a clay sculpture
Denny International Middle School student in Lida Enche-Keen's visual art class. Photo by Stephen Brashear.
Welcome back from Snowpocalypse and Mid-Winter Break! 
As we head into school budgeting season, the theme for this newsletter is budgeting and funding THE ARTS in our schools. This issue includes articles on:
  • School budgeting for the arts
  • The Arts and Title IV Funding
  • Current funding Opportunities from the City and State
  • Arts Opportunities for Schools and Teachers
  • Arts Opportunities for students
  • Arts Opportunities for Partners
Arts Education News...  Budgeting for the Arts
The arts are a core subject area and align with the Common Core State Standards and Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS). Students who participate in the arts do better academically, are more engaged in learning, are more likely to stay in school and go to college and as adults are more likely to engage civically in their communities when compared to peers who haven't had an arts education.  Research shows that this is especially true for low-income students. The arts are integral to developing 21st century skills such as creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration and perseverance - skills directly linked to student success in school, career, and life.
 
As each Creative Advantage School Arts Team develops their arts vision, they articulate clear school-wide goals for creating an arts-rich school.  Establishing a budget line item for the arts can further a school's commitment to align arts goals and student learning needs. Arts learning approaches may include a combination of strategies - such as hiring arts teachers, purchasing arts supplies and developing partnerships. In tight budget times, you may rely on multiple streams if funding including baseline (for staff and materials), Creative Advantage funding (for partnerships and PD), ESSA Federal funds (see article below) and funds from grants from the City and State (for partnerships - see below for current grant opportunities). 

As you go into developing you school budget for next year, consider budget for both staffing and materials. Seattle elementary schools must prioritize, music, visual art and PE staff for their WSS PCP allocations. The SPS goal is that K-5 students will receive 60 minutes and music and 60 minutes of visual art on average, weekly. For middle and high schools, consider the new WA State high school graduation requirement of 2 Fine Arts credits in any arts discipline (visual art, media arts, music, theatre and dance). SPS does not yet have a recommended materials budget guideline, however our partner district in the Cities for a Creative Future professional learning network, Chicago Public Schools recommends that elementary schools maintain a minimum budget of $5 per student for each arts discipline and high schools maintain a budget of $10 per student for each art form offered.
The Arts and Title IV Funding
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) contains specific language that allows school districts to utilize Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants (Title IV, Part A) for programs and activities that support student access to a well-rounded education. School districts may use Title IV, Part A funds to implement or expand programs and activities that use the arts as tools to support student success through the promotion of constructive student engagement, problem solving, and conflict resolution. Read more here .
Teacher and two students rolling clay
West Seattle Elementary's Amber Simonton visual art class. Photo by Stephen Brashear.
Current Arts Ed Funding Opportunities:
City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture
2019 Youth Arts Grant , open February 4 - March 26, 2019

Youth Arts grants support equitable access to arts and cultural learning opportunities for Seattle's Middle- and High School-aged youth. Programs occur outside of school hours and are led by experienced teaching artists working in communities to increase arts and cultural opportunities for young people from diverse racial and socio-economic backgrounds.  
 
 
smART Ventures, on-going

As a small awards program, smART ventures encourages innovation and widens cultural participation, particularly by individuals, organizations and communities that may not qualify for other funding programs. Accepting applications year-round, smART ventures is flexible, inclusive and simple. It provides support ranging from $500 to $1,000, proving that small investments can have big impacts.
State of Washington
The First Step grant supports programs with a smaller scope or a newer partnership, and may include foundation-building strategies as well as offering programs in schools. Grant funding ranges from $1,000-$5,000. 

The Community Consortium grant supports more established programs – they require more significant partnership commitments, and are expected to have more developed approaches for planning, implementing, and evaluating their arts education work. These grants are on a two-year cycle, with annual funding amounts expected to be in the range of $5,000-$18,000. 

Both grants are designed to support partnerships between schools and arts organizations who are working together to develop, implement, and evaluate high quality arts learning programs for students in K-12 schools, as part of the regular school day. Deadline for both is: March 20, 2019 
If you would like technical assistance in applying for any of these grants, please contact Audrey Querns .
Arts Opportunities for Schools
Free Mindfulness and Arts Classes for Schools
Yareli Quintana is a Certified Holistic Health Coach, Mindfulness Meditation Coach, and Yoga Instructor new to the Seattle area. Certified by the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and trained in Compassion Cultivation Meditation by the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University’s School of Medicine, Yareli launched Mindfulness In The Classroom - a K-12, eight-week curriculum that aims to teach students and school administrators the benefit of mindful learning, compassion cultivation, and holistic health. Mindfulness in the Classroom has graduated more than 1200 students in the San Francisco Bay Area. Now a resident of Seattle, Yareli’s hope is to introduce it to Seattle area schools.
You can learn more about Yareli and her program at YareliQuintana.com or MindfulnessInTheClassroom.com . 
Arts Opportunities for Teachers
OSPI's ArtsTime Conference
March 9, 2019
THE STATE OF THE ARTS: INFUSING Creativity in the Classroom

Who should attend: K-8 Educators and others who are...
  • Interested in getting ideas for arts integration into other content area - ideas you can take back and use right away!
  • Looking for new ideas to inspire their students.

Register by March 4, 2019 * Cost: $87.00 * After March 4th and onsite Cost: $110.00

Where: Tukwila Community Center * 12424 - 42nd Ave S, Tukwila WA 98168
Time: 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Check-In: 7:45 - 8:30 a.m.
Included with registration: Materials, Lunch and 7 clock hours
Second Annual Cross Border Social Justice Conference
March 2, 2019 in Surrey, BC
Join Rethinking Schools editors Linda Christensen at Ursula Wolfe-Rocca at the 2nd annual  Cross Border Social Justice Conference  in Surrey, British Columbia. This year's theme: Teaching for Joy and Justice.
When:  Saturday, March 2 -- Noon to 8 pm
Where:  North Surrey Secondary School, 15945 96th Ave. Surrey, B.C.
Arts Opportunities for Students
Western Governors’ Association High “Celebrate the West” High School Art Competition
 
Ballard High School Film Festival this Saturday, March 2 at 7 p.m.
This event is a celebration of the award-winning program's newest films, from comedies to dramas to music videos. Films that premier here frequently go on to win national awards. (Check them out at  Digital Filmmaking Program’s vimeo site .)  
Tickets are available at the door--$10 for adults and $5 for students--are available at the door.
Arts Career Exploration Events
Saturday, March 16 at Seattle Art Museum 

Friday, April 19 at MoPop & Seattle Center Venues 
Opportunities for Arts Partners
Creative Advantage Community Arts Partner Roster is Open
 
The Creative Advantage Community Arts Partner Roster is a vetted list of teaching artists and community arts and culture organizations approved to work in Seattle Public Schools through The Creative Advantage. Arts partners provide integrated and cultural arts learning for students and teachers, and exposure to different methods of expression and viewing the world.

The roster is maintained by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture as a resource for schools seeking partners to meet their education and community goals.

The application to the 2019 Community Arts Partner Roster closes Wednesday, March 13.
Resources
As you implement your school arts plans, here are a few websites and people you can look to for help:


The Creative Advantage Page on the SPS website
Resources and tools for arts teams, Creative Advantage news and archived newsletters.

The Community Arts Partner Roster is a vetted list of teaching artists and community arts and culture organizations approved to work in Seattle Public Schools through the Creative Advantage.

The Creative Advantage Website & Toolkit houses the school arts plans, tools for planning partnerships, guidelines for contracts and invoices and more.

If you can't find what you need on-line, contact the Creative Advantage staff:
 
Audrey Querns -SPS project manager for Creative Advantage (for questions about arts teams and planning, arts partner logistics like contracts and funding)
 
Tina LaPadula - Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Creative Youth Project Manager and Lara Davis -Arts Education Manager (for questions about the Arts Partner Roster and working with teaching artists and arts organizations) 

Gail Sehlhorst -SPS Visual and Performing Arts Manager (for questions about arts staffing, curriculum and assessment)
 
Kate Baker - SPS Media Arts Skills Center Project Manager