Arts In Education

The Arts In Education Fund Advisory Committee's vision is to transform lives and enhance learning through arts education.

The mission is to increase arts education and to improve K-12 student learning through the arts.

The Laird Norton Family Foundation’s Arts in Education Fund Advisory Committee (FAC) is comprised of Laird Norton family member volunteers who are committed to transforming children’s lives and enhancing their learning through arts education.  Committee members believe that children have multiple learning styles and teaching through the arts cultivates creativity, confidence and critical thinking skills.

The Arts in Education Fund Advisory Committee started grantmaking in 2008 by supporting organizations in the states where volunteer family members live as part of a process to learn about effective grantmaking in education through the arts. In January 2009, the FAC adopted a new funding strategy to further its mission to increase arts education and to improve K-12 student learning through the arts and will now focus geographically on Washington state for the next three years in a coordinated effort with others to “move the needle” in arts education in Washington state. 

Our process is to award grants by invitation only, and w are not looking for Letters of Inquiry or proposals for 2010.

Grants Awarded in 2009:

Adams Elementary School http://www.seattleschools.org/schools/adams  

$30,000 Program support to take their arts integration programs to the next level through teacher training with Arts Impact.

Arts Corps http://www.artscorps.org  $30,000  

General operating support. Arts Corps’ mission is to provide quality arts education programs to children who would not ordinarily have those opportunities.

Arts Impact http://www.arts-impact.org         $30,000                

General operating support.  Arts Impact provides two-year teacher training programs that give teachers the skills they need to infuse arts into their curricula.

Pratt Fine Arts Center http://www.pratt.org $20,000                

Program support for Kid & Youth Art Works (KYAW). KYAW offers youth in-depth, challenging visual arts training and skill building in glass art (fusing, flameworking, glassblowing), painting & drawing, book binding, printmaking and more.

Roosevelt Elementary School http://www.roosevelt.bsdnet.wednet.edu $5,000

Program support to begin a five-year plan to increase art opportunities for students, deliver professional development in the arts, and to become the first arts focus elementary in the Bellingham School District. Staff will be participating in the Arts Impact Professional Development Program for the 2009-2010 school year.

Rosa Parks Elementary School http://www.lwsd.org/school/rosaparks $12,500   

Program support 1) to address collaboration of staff in developing units/lessons (using Arts Impact's detailed lesson design) that infuse the arts into the academic program in ways that enhance the learning of children; and 2) to develop assessment tools that provide "evidence" of the impact of arts infusion.

Seattle Dance Project http://www.seattledanceproject.org       $15,000

Program support to conduct a dance residency at Parkwood Elementary School in Shoreline offering at least ten classes to each and every student from K-6. Teaching artists will work closely with each grade teacher to formulate a year-long residency which fulfills or enhances the curriculum for the particular grade level and meets the standards set by the state of Washington.

Seattle Public Schools http://www.seattleschools.org $30,000

Planning grant to support the creation of a comprehensive International Arts K-12 program that will align elementary and secondary arts learning.  This is a collaborative project between the Visual/Performing Arts Dept. of Seattle Public Schools and the SPS International Schools.

Voices Education Project http://www.voiceseducation.org        $25,000                

Program support for the “Playback” project, in which high school students interview and film local “makers of history,” and then distill their interviews into a multi-media theatrical production to be performed in several different venues. “Playback” will incorporate film, photography, theater, scripting, performance, and dance with final versions being presented as visual and performing arts.

Washington Alliance for Arts Education http://www.artsedwashington.org $30,000           

General operating support.  ArtsEd Washington's mission is to advance arts education through leadership, partnership, and communication.

West Sound Academy http://www.westsoundacademy.org $30,000      

Program support (year two) for the West Sound Conservatory project to assist with operational expenses to enable the Conservatory to oversee and expand programming and community outreach efforts.

Whistlestop Dance Company http://www.whistlestop-dance.com $5,000             

Program support for the Dance Infusion Program, a partnership between Whistlestop, the Seattle Public Schools, and three Seattle schools to enhance student learning in and through dance.

Winona Area Public Schools http://www.winona.k12.mn.us $20,000      

Program support (year two) for the Winona Area Artists-in-Residence program.

Yelm Community Schools $30,000

Program support (year two) for the iCreate program.