Educational Service District 105 has been awarded a three-year grant totaling $889,618 from the U.S. Department of Education that will boost arts education programs in the region’s schools. The $889,618 Professional Development for Arts Educators (PDAE) grant will allow for continuation and expansion of visual and musical arts assistance to area schools provided under the ESD 105 ArtFusion program. The new grant is a follow-up to the original $1.04 million PDAE grant that launched the ESD 105’s ArtFusion in 2005.
The grant will be used to augment art education offerings for students and instruction in the arts for classroom teachers through a partnership of the ESD, school districts, and several community arts organizations. The goal of the grant is to assist participating schools in helping their students reach grade-level expectations in the state’s Classroom-Based Assessments for the Arts.
• A new “Art Integration Mentors” (AIM) program will be launched to augment the existing Artist-in-Residence program provided to schools through Allied Arts of Yakima and Gallery One of Ellensburg. Previously, the Artist-in-Residence program had artists conducting art lessons at schools in Yakima and Kittitas counties. The new AIM program, modeled on a system offered by Puget Sound ESD, will focus on professional development on art instruction for classroom teachers to help art programs become more sustainable within school districts. Under AIM, the artists will model an art lesson to classroom students, the artist and the classroom’s teacher will co-teach a lesson, then the classroom teacher will provide an arts-integrated lesson based on the training provided by the visiting artist. Five area artists have already attended a week-long training in this program, which is targeted to serve approximately 30 elementary teachers.
• The Yakima Valley Community College Larson Gallery’s Cultural Education Extension Program will be made available to two high schools each year, providing art gallery career experiences to local students.
• The Yakima Symphony Orchestra Ensemble visits to area 4th and 5th grade classes will be expanded to two more schools annually. Since 2006, the ESD 105 ArtFusion program has helped bring the YSO Ensemble visits to five previously unserved school districts (Highland, East Valley, Wapato, Toppenish, and Grandview), all of which have continued offering the Ensemble visits on their own. YSO Ensemble visits now occur at 22 area school buildings.
• Instruction in using Sibelius music composition software will be expanded to include trainings for 13 teachers each year, as well as posting six student-created Sibelius music compositions on the ESD 105 ArtFusion’s Web site.
• ArtFusion’s marimba band program will be added to three elementary schools each year. This offering has brought marimba bands to 15 area schools since 2006.
“Receiving this grant is a recognition of the successful arts programs we’ve put in place in our region over the last few years,” said
