Maine Arts Commission grants – March 1 Deadline
The Maine Arts Commission (MAC) awards grants to artists, arts organizations, and arts educators through 12 different programs. The 2018 applications for six of these, with a deadline of March 1, are now open. The Arts Learning grant is especially for schools and educators working with students providing arts education.
Application deadline: March 1, 2018 at 5:00 p.m.
Maximum award: $5,000 (with a required 50% match)
SUMMARY
This grant supports schools, arts organizations/institutions and community-based teaching artists as they collaborate on the design and delivery of high-quality arts learning experiences for PK-12 students.
This program supports high-quality visual or performing arts education of PK-12 students and/or educators of this population.
There is a required 50% in-kind or cash match for this grant. (For example, an applicant asking for $5,000 must provide $2,500 of matching support.)
The funding cycle for this program is July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019. Funds will not be available until after July 1, and cannot be spent for activities outside the funding cycle dates.
GUIDELINES – PDF
ABOUT THE ARTS LEARNING GRANT
Funds are to be used to enhance PK-12 arts education through teaching artist programs, community arts education programs, curriculum planning, professional learning for arts educators, teaching artists and teachers of all content.
The proposal should include the use of best standards-based practices reflecting 21st-century teaching and learning.
PK-12 schools through their districts, community organizations, and cultural institutions acting as or in partnership with teaching artists are eligible to apply for the Arts Learning grant. Applicants are encouraged to select teaching artists from the Maine Arts Commission’s Teaching Artist Roster.
The Maine Arts Commission learned during extensive data collection over the past two years that students in Maine’s most underserved regions have fewer opportunities for arts education. The agency therefore is earmarking funds for these regions of Maine. During fiscal year 2018-19, a dedicated grant of $5,000 will be offered to a single applicant from Aroostook, Washington or Oxford County. All other application processes will remain the same for this opportunity. For more information please contact Argy Nestor, Director of Arts Education, 207-287-2713 or argy.nestor@maine.gov.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Your school district or organization is eligible to apply only if it meets all of the following criteria:
- Is a nonprofit organization, legally established in the state of Maine.
- Has a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status from the Internal Revenue Service, is a public school district, or is a unit of municipal, county or tribal government.
- Is in compliance with final reports required for any previous Maine Arts Commission awards received.
NOTE: An individual school must apply through its school district. As the legal applicant, all paperwork will be conducted through the Superintendent’s offices and communications and funds will go directly to the district to be delivered to the school. The Maine Arts Commission cannot contract directly with individual schools regardless of the project. It will be the responsibility of the project staff to communicate with the district office for the transfer of funds.
APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
Please log into our Grants Management System. Your account is free and you can browse grant guidelines and requirements for all programs without applying. Your account also gives you the ability to add your entry to our Artists and Organizations Directory and to post press releases and events to this site’s news and calendar sections.
ASSISTANCE
Agency staff are always here as a resource for you. We recommend contacting the correct staff person a minimum of two-weeks prior to submitting your application.
For general questions about the application or review process please contact Kathy Ann Shaw, Senior Director for Grants and Arts Accessibility, at Kathy Shaw@maine.gov. or 207-287-2750.
For specific questions about the Arts Learning application please contact Argy Nestor, Director of Arts Education, at argy.nestor@maine.gov or 207-287-2713.
Grant information is available in large print format by request. All Maine Arts Commission programs are accessible to people with disabilities. All programs funded by the Maine Arts Commission must also be accessible.
Develop a creative book making project to assess your students’ authentic learning. Perfect for the end of a grading term, this idea can be tailored to suit the needs of you and your students. Impress your administrators with your ability to keep every student fully engaged in the assessment of their own work. Grades 7-12
Rhythm!! Is this one of the elements of music that you spend a lot of time on in rehearsal? How are your kids at sight-reading? Have you ever fallen into the trap of singing the part for your students? Are you clapping rhythms in class and finding that it sounds more like applause? Intended for ensemble directors, this workshop will provide a new approach to many based upon a tried and true method of counting and verbalizing rhythmic patterns. Grades 7-12
Looking at ideas on emotional intelligence and leadership collected by Daniel Goleman we will identify the core elements of emotional intelligence and compare them with habits and skills practiced in the creative process. Be ready to create, journal and discuss ideas together on creativity, the arts and emotional intelligence. All grade levels and all content
It is the age of customized education and differentiated instruction. Chances are, your building administrators are looking for observable evidence of this in your teaching practice. Time constraints and scheduling difficulties can make customized learning a challenge to implement in the general music setting. In this workshop, we will discuss the benefits of flexible grouping strategies, and how to use them to your advantage. Grades PK-12 General Music 
Ovations Offstage Director Catherine Anderson will introduce workshop participants to Ovations Dynamic School-Time Performance Series for 2018-19, and model for teachers how to help students engage with any story, or content (fictional or not) through the use of “tableau”. Tableau is a wordless theater activity for small groups of students that can be adapted for any age group. Participants will leave with a leasson plan with clear learning targets, and assessment criteria. All grade levels
Stars and Stairs, Where am I now and Where am I going? How can the use of Stars and Stairs in your classroom help to inform you and your students of their learning progression and actively engage them in the learning process? This will be a round table discussion. Looking at your standards and your curriculum how can you use the Stars and Stairs model in your classroom. All grade levels and all content
Everyone seems to agree that we need more creativity in education, but just what is creativity, and how can we possibly teach it? This workshop will answer both those questions (gasp…) With one foot planted in neuroscience, and the other dangling in the depths of the subconscious, we will conduct transformative activities (visual arts based) designed to enhance the “brainsets” that contribute to creative states of mind. Grades 7-12
Improvisation is commonly viewed as a specialty skill, and one that you either have or don’t. This presentation makes the case for improvisation as an essential skill, a naturally growth-minded learning tool, and an additional resource to address any number of Maine Learning Results, and to engage students and give them more ownership over their musical voice. This will be heavily participatory, exploring simple methods to more advanced, and using multiple musical languages/genres. All grade levels
Art can propel the next generation of leaders to make a personal connection to real world issues. In this workshop participants will explore strategies for helping young people forge a deep and personal connection between the environment and themselves. If our students are to have the courage to address the environmental challenges we face today, they must believe in the power of their ideas and know that they can create something tangible from them. Participants will make art that crosses subject matter boundaries and explore ways to design original curriculum that leads to action. Elementary and Middle Levels and Visual Arts
Come join a conversation, share thoughts, and cultivate ideas regarding the challenge of integrated curriculum work at the highschool level. How can finding commonalities between subject areas motivate student learning, provide hands on experience with cross curricular connections, as well as benefit the educator as they become more proficient in the language of other disciplines? High School
Self-reflection is a crucial part in the cycle of learning for both student and teacher. With regular self-reflection integrated in your classroom, students will become more aware, dig deeper, and take ownership of their learning. This applies to us as teachers. We will also discuss the importance of documentation and strategies of reflection upon our own teaching. Information gathered about student growth, understanding, and feedback on units/lessons will not only be beneficial for the development of a curriculum, but also in providing evidence for teacher evaluations. All grade levels and all content
This workshop documents the progression of a year-long chorus project in which 7th and 8th grade students composed lyrics and music for an original performance piece. The project developed a model of integrated arts programming, including extensive literacy integration through working with a guest poet-in-residence for several weeks. The project also tied in hands-on classwork, a field experience, a connection with a wider community project, video diaries, peer critique, and of course music composition and performance skills. The workshop will give participants a hand-on experience of our project, as well as tools to create their own. All grade levels
Interested in transforming your school into a STEAM based model? This workshop will include the benefits of STEAM for students, some sample STEAM lessons, and a suggested action plan for incorporating a STEAM approach into your school. Upper Elementary
How do we teach aesthetics and criticism in our Visual and Performing Arts classes? How do teachers design learning experiences for Maine Learning Results standard D? In this interactive workshop teachers will experience methods for teaching aesthetics and criticism in the 7-12 arts classroom. Sample lessons that teach forms of artistic interpretation to students will be shared as well as methods for critique. The workshop is geared toward supporting the teaching and assessment of Maine Learning Results standard D. During the second part of the workshop participants will be encouraged to share their own approaches. Participants will leave with tools that they can immediately use in their classes. Grades 7-12, adaptable for all grade levels
This will be a fun and informative program with practical involvement by all. All participants will have ideas to take back to the classroom and hopefully a reinvigorated perspective on their teaching with a theater focus. All grade levels
Kenny G on How Arts Education influenced my life: “I think that opportunity to encounter and engage with music all those years in school would have been life-changing even if I had become Kenny G, the accountant.” Read more by 
Barb Vinal (Packeles) taught music in Maine for many years before moving to North Carolina where she continues teaching and learning as the Instructional Technology Facilitator and Magnet School Coordinator for the Wake County Public School System in Raleigh, NC. She has been an educator for 30 years and holds a Masters in Technology Education from Lesley University, a Bachelors in Music Education from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and holds a certificate in online instruction through the Carolina Online Teacher program (COLT) through LearnNC, a program of the UNC School of Education. Barb serves on the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative Leadership Team. She was a member of the Maine Department of Education Learning Results Review Committee in 2007, developing the Maine state standards in Visual and Performing Arts. 
Catherine Ring is Executive Director of the New England Institute for Teacher Education and teaches graduate level courses to educators across the state of Maine. She serves on the Leadership Team with the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative since 2010. Catherine has presented at the Maine Principals’ Association Conference as well as nationally at the National Art Education Conventions. Catherine has taught visual arts for 20 years, is a former K-8 Principal and is has her Assistant Superintendent certification. Catherine completed her Education Leadership studies at the University of Vermont and received her Master of Arts from Vermont College of Norwich University. For her thesis, entitled “Education and the Arts, Toward Creative Intelligences,” she researched the role of the arts in learning and has worked closely with classroom teachers, helping them to integrate the arts into their regular curricula. She assists school districts throughout Maine with differentiated instruction, arts integration, and gifted and talented programs. Catherine is the 2014 Maine Art Education Association Advocate of the Year. Catherine teachers visual arts one-day per week at Isle au Haut School.
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