Teaching through the arts cultivates creativity, confidence and critical thinking skills.
The Laird Norton Family Foundation is committed to increasing arts education and improving K-12 student learning through the arts. Our vision is to transform children's lives and enhance their learning through arts education. We support quality arts instruction in the classroom as pathway to our larger goal: helping K-12 public schools develop arts-infused curricula and using the arts as a tool to teach other subjects.
We focus our Arts in Education grantmaking in three areas:
We award Arts in Education grants primarily in the Puget Sound region, as well as in communities where Laird Norton family members live and work.
We focus our Arts in Education grantmaking in three areas:
- Arts education and arts-infused curricula in public school classrooms
- Organizations working to change the state of arts education
- Out-of-school programs that closely collaborate with K-12 public schools
We award Arts in Education grants primarily in the Puget Sound region, as well as in communities where Laird Norton family members live and work.
2011 Arts in Education Grants
- Adams Elementary School (WA)
$15,000 In support of arts integration efforts. Adams Elementary is in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle and is a leader in the Seattle Public Schools system in using arts to advance learning across all subject areas. They serve more than 400 students in grades K-5. - Arts Corps (WA)
$37,000 General operating support. Arts Corps’ mission is to provide quality arts education programs to children who would not ordinarily have those opportunities. Arts Corps serves more than 2,000 children and youth at 40 sites throughout the greater Seattle community. - Arts for the Schools (CA)
$25,000 In support of the Artists in Residence program providing art education in the Truckee Tahoe Unified School District. Through this program, Arts for the Schools provides arts education to more than 850 students in grades 3-5 and for at-risk high school students. - Arts Impact (Puget Sound Educational Service District) (WA)
$20,000 General operating support. Arts Impact provides two-year teacher training programs that give teachers the skills they need to infuse arts into their curricula. - WA Alliance for Arts Education (ArtsEd Washington) (WA)
$40,000 General operating support. ArtsEd's mission is to advance arts education through leadership, partnership, and communication. - Ramsey International Fine Arts Center (MN)
$20,000 In support of the Music Circle program which teaches social-emotional vocabulary and problem-solving skills through music in order to improve overall academic achievement. Ramsey is a public K-8 fine arts magnet school which serves 950 students in the Minneapolis Public School district. - Tacoma School of the Arts Partners (WA)
$23,000 In support of the Adjunct Artist/Instructor program at Tacoma School of the Arts (SOTA). This program brings artists from the local community in to the school as instructors, increasing students’ exposure to high quality artists and helping to ensure working artists are able to stay in the community. Tacoma School of the Arts Partners supports three public schools in the Tacoma School District that are working to change the educational system from the inside out. - Winona Area Public Schools (MN)
$20,000 In support of the artist-in-residence program which will include visual arts residencies, performing arts residencies, and professional development for teachers at K-12 public schools throughout the Winona school district. - Yelm Community Schools (WA)
$25,000 In support of the iCreate Arts in Education program which provides greater access to the arts through collaborations between classroom teachers and professional artists in 10 schools. iCreate reaches more than 5,600 students grades K-12 in the Yelm school district each year.
