Due to the success of the 2008 Fund for the Arts Campaign, the Fund awarded $260,000 in National City/Fund for the Arts Teacher Arts Grants (TAG) to 149 applying schools for the 2008 - 2009 school year.
This year's 45% increase in TAG's allocation funded 313 arts partnerships in 7 school systems, providing access to over 45,000 students this year to our community's amazing arts programs, which are designed to complement and enhance the educational experiences of our children.
This school-year, TAG brings the full Louisville Orchestra to Eastern and Valley High Schools in Jefferson County, Kentucky for concerts. Buses will carry students from as far as Henryville (IN) Elementary, Shepherdsville (KY) Elementary, and St. Rita Catholic Elementary for performances at the Ogle Center, Stage One and the Kentucky Opera.
Students from Oldham County (KY) High School, Charlestown (IN) Middle School, Nichols Elementary in West Point, Lincoln Elementary, and Heritage Elementary in Waddy will enjoy live in-school art experiences and artist residencies by Actors Theatre, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville Ballet, Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, and Stage One.
And, schools in between will experience Broadway at Iroquois, PNC Bank's Broadway Across America, the Louisville Visual Art Association, Walden Theatre and the West Louisville Performing Arts Academy.
Patti Holznecht, Shelby Elementary School, said of last year's TAG experience, "the students definitely benefited in more ways than can be assessed on the CATS test. The activity (building a clay set for Hansel & Gretel) not only helped the children to see the practical application and dove-tailing of geometry with the elements of art and design, but
gave them the opportunity to work in groups. And, it let some of the less-than-typical students have a chance to shine and demonstrate their talents outside the traditional classroom setting."
With funding from additional TAG sponsors National City Bank, Alcoa Foundation, the Archdiocese of Louisville, The William E. Barth Foundation, Churchill Downs, the Crawford Charitable Foundation, Metro Louisville Government, the Fund is well positioned to build beneficial connections between our cultural resources and our community schools.
TAG brings schoolchildren to arts venues and takes the arts into the classrooms -- underwriting a range of activities, from helping to defray the cost of tickets and transportation to artists-in-residence in the classrooms. TAG's goal is to provide all school-children in Jefferson County with a live arts experience by every participating Fund Member
Group during their school career.
New to this year's TAG program is the option for teachers to select from twelve pre-approved, not-for-profit arts groups that are not members of the Fund's immediate family for engagement in a TAG grant. This school-year, teachers reached out to Blue Apple Players, Glassworks, Kentucky Center, Ogle Center, Portland Museum, the Speed Art Museum, and the Squallis Puppeteers as newcomers to the TAG program.
(For a full listing of schools participating in the TAG program, please contact the Fund for the Arts at (502) 582-0100 or go to www.fundforthearts.com)
