As teachers return to school for the 2024-2025 school year, they may seek new ways to enrich and expand their students’ knowledge, practice and mastery of arts education. Yet, with arts programs being cut, they may find themselves presented with limited options for aiding and instructing the artists, musicians and thespians of tomorrow. The Hernando County Fine Arts Council and the Hernando County Education Foundation are here to help, offering the Arts in Education Grant to certified visual or performing arts teachers in Hernando County.
The Hernando County Fine Arts Council’s goal is to encourage, promote, and support all creative arts in Hernando County and to provide a means to showcase them.
The purpose of this grant, according to a mission statement, “is to support arts educators in delivering art experiences to students in Hernando County.” Since 2022, Arts in Education grants have been distributed through the Hernando County Education Foundation. Founded in 1988, the Hernando County Education Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization that provides Direct Support to our county’s public schools by seeking out financial support to meet the unfunded needs of public education in Hernando County. Their mission is to Creating Partnerships that Advance Student Achievement and Promote Excellence within Hernando County Public Education. Their focus is on student scholarships, classroom grants, literacy, and recognition programs.
Any certified Hernando County visual or performing arts teacher may apply for this grant. For schools without arts programs, an academic administrator may apply on their behalf. Each school is limited to one visual and one performing arts application per year. In addition, all projects must align with the Arts in Education mission statement: “to encourage, promote, support, and showcase the creative process for the benefit of K-12 students in Hernando County.” Previous funded projects have included pop art, ceramic workshops, film production, theatre programs, and more.
“The Arts in Education grant is for art teachers in Hernando County schools, including private, public, and charter schools,” said Nidia Pierre, the Arts in Education Chair for the Hernando County Fine Arts Council.
And now, grant administrators are ready to support students and educators in the new school year. “We are now accepting applications for classroom art projects during the 2024-2025 school year,” said Pierre. Grants are distributed in partnership with the Hernando County Education Foundation.
Pierre takes pride in the wide variety of art projects that the grants serve to fund. “Past projects we have funded are visual arts projects like pop-art and screen-printing, performing arts projects including buying instruments for a music class, microphones for a theatre program, and covering transportation fees for a videography club’s field trip (NCT),” she said.
One grant was awarded to the Gulf Coast Academy for the Florida Highwaymen project, in which eighth-graders took a painting workshop that challenged them to create paintings inspired by the classic Florida Highwaymen artists and award-winning artist Christine Weeks led the workshops. And at Nature Coast Technical High School, the Digital Production Program has received several Arts in Education grants to cover the cost of everything from tripods to travel fees; one year, for example, students traveled to New York to compete in the All-American High School Festival. Their short film “Waiting for the Punchline” claimed second place worldwide that year!
Applications are judged according to HCFAC mission consistency, project description, budget, outcomes, impact, innovation, number of people benefitting from the project, cost-benefit, and visibility to Hernando County Arts and HCFAC.
To learn more about and apply for the grant, visit https://www.hernandoarts.org/aie-grant. Please review the grant guidelines in total, and email completed applications to both [email protected] & [email protected] with the subject line ‘2024-2025 Arts in Education Grant Application.’
The deadline to apply for classroom projects taking place during the 2024-2025 school year is September 4, 2024. Board Approval will be issued on September 12, 2024. Approved Grant Awards will be submitted to schools in early October 2024.
