Attack Theatre to Receive $40,000 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts
PITTSBURGH, PA—Attack Theatre has been awarded $40,000 from the National Endowments for the Arts for Grants for Arts Projects to support the administration of Rural Arts® Collaborative programs in central West Virginia. This project will serve middle and high school students through long-term, in-school teaching artist residencies. Programs will be implemented in schools whose existing arts curricula require increased rigor, or whose arts curricula have been downsized or eliminated due to budget cuts. Attack Theatre’s project is among 1,073 projects across America totaling over $27 million that were selected during this first round of fiscal year 2021 funding in the Grants for Arts Projects funding category.
The Rural Arts® Collaborative (RAC) provides in-school arts education residencies for students in rural communities. Over the past ten years, RAC has served approximately 20,000 students in over 70 rural schools across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. From the beginning these residencies were long-term, ranging from a full semester to a full academic year—an engaging component for administrators, teachers, and students. These residencies are now being adapted because of the pandemic to provide a model that is 10-12 weeks in length. Historically, Attack Theatre has partnered with RAC as a program provider, while implementing its own creative learning residencies in schools throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia. This award from the National Endowment for the Arts will support the expansion of this program to reach more students in central West Virginia and employ additional teaching artists over the next two years. In partnership with the Rural Arts® Collaborative, Attack Theatre aims to develop a sustainable model for the future of rural arts residencies within the company’s arts education initiatives.
Carmelle Nickens, founder of the Rural Arts® Collaborative, said: “RAC gives students voice and a new way of thinking, seeing, being and doing. Students take ownership in a project-based learning environment, and teachers are giving us great data on their improved academic attention and overall cognitive performance in other disciplines besides the arts.”
Attack Theatre has identified several counties in West Virginia where RAC programs may be offered between Spring 2021 and Spring 2022, including: Boone, Clay, Fayette, Kanawha, Lincoln, and Putnum, as well as Bellaire County, Ohio. Through each project-based residency students will learn directly from professional teaching artists and work to create visual or performance art to be showcased in a public forum in students’ respective schools and communities. The roster of participating teaching artists features a broad range of creative professionals, including painters, mural artists, ceramicists, metal artists, jewelry makers, theatre artists, musicians, and dancers.
Additional support for this project comes from The Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.
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