Amy Pender, Director (212) 741-5256
Gary Dayton, Associate (212) 741-5257

The Council believes that the arts are essential and basic to every child's education, and that the cultural community and the work of teaching artists are important resources for teachers and school-age children. The Council also believes that, along with certified arts educators, cultural organizations can play a vital role in engaging students in rich artistic experiences and in helping them develop their creativity and imaginations. In support of these beliefs, the Arts in Education Program funds cultural organizations that work in partnership with schools to create programs that focus on a deep exploration of the arts and the artistic process, as well as the intersection of the arts and other areas of study and the role of the arts in the world in which we live. Funded programs are meant to encourage teachers, administrators, students, and parents to explore and examine the powerful role the arts can play in education and life-long learning. Funding is also meant to complement sequential, skills-based study of the arts in all of the artistic disciplines.

Support for these collaborative programs is offered through the Empire State Partnerships (ESP) categories. These categories provide a sequential funding structure that supports the development and evolution of funded partnerships. Eligible partnerships will involve collaborations between artists and teachers as they create units of study that are at least 10 artistic contact sessions in length. Eligible partnerships will also serve students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12, and project activities will occur during the regular school day. In certain cases, pre-school programs and "extended day" or year-round programs are eligible for support; applicants are strongly advised to consult with Program staff before applying for support for these types of programs.

Following are characteristics of successful partnerships.

The partners have engaged in substantive strategic planning efforts that have resulted in a shared vision for how the arts partnership will create sustainable changes in teaching, learning, and school culture.

The program clearly fits into a larger arts education plan for the school. If no plan exists, the partners articulate how they will use the project to stimulate the development of such a plan.

The school partner contributes a significant portion of the project expenses.

Steering committees for the partnerships are made up of diverse constituent representatives, including school and cultural organization personnel, artists, parents, outside consultants, students, and business leaders. Project teams include the teachers, artists, and administrators who will be directly involved in implementing the project after planning is complete.

Designing, teaching, and evaluating the unit of study involves a deep collaboration between teacher(s) and teaching artist(s).

The professional development plan is designed by the teachers, administrators, and artists who will benefit from it.

The work plan includes sufficient time for planning, reflecting, and refining.

Approaches to involve parents and community members are creative and substantive.

Cultural organizations are encouraged to apply for ESP support whether or not their school partners have certified arts educators on staff. However, the Program is unable to fund partnerships that appear to replace the role of certified arts teachers in schools.

The Program is also unable to fund:

Exposure programs, short-term activities, or programs that are solely assembly programs, single performances, or one-time visits to cultural institutions with pre- and post-visit activities

Extracurricular activities that take place after the school day, in the summer, or during non-school hours

Programs in which selected students are taken out of regular classes or self-selected for participation

College-level courses, scholarships, contests or student performing groups.

Each request for ESP support may involve only one school partner, except in the ESP Dissemination category. A school partner is defined as a single school building.

New applicants, and partnerships that have not received recent funding from the Program, are welcome in the ESP Project-based Planning category, and they are strongly advised to consult with Program staff well before the March registration deadline.

Support for projects that are intended to 1) build the capacity of organizations to engage in arts education partnerships; or 2) strengthen the knowledge base of the field at large is available through the Special Projects/Services to the Field category. 

General Program Support (GPS) is no longer available, except for those organizations that are currently on multi-year GPS funding. Organizations that previously received GPS should consider submitting an application in the Special Projects/Services to the Field category.

The Program welcomes proposals that are creative and experimental in their use of technology.