13 Schools Awarded Grant From Artists In Education Residency Grant Program

This school year, the Artists in Education Residency Grant Program (AIE) is pleased to announce that it will be sponsoring thirteen long-term residencies throughout the state of New Jersey. This year's residencies range from Latin dance to Bollywood, buddy benches to drumlines, and many different art forms in between.

The Artists in Education Residency Grant Program is a co-sponsored project of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Young Audiences Arts for Learning NJ & Eastern PA. The program is carried out in partnership with regional partners, including Appel Farm Arts & Music Center, Count Basie Center for the Arts, and Morris Arts.

AIE grants (in value of $10,000) place professional teaching artists in classrooms for long-term residencies that can be offered in all arts disciplines and at all grade levels. AIE grants are available to any New Jersey School, PreK - 12th grade. The twenty-day residency provides professional development in the visual, performing, and literary arts, in-school workshop days with a professional teaching artist, and a community-based culminating event. AIE residencies focus on direct learning about the arts and the processes of creating art, including the skills, techniques and concepts of the art form. The 2019 - 2020 schools who received the grant are:

• Bradley Beach Elementary School (Bradley Beach)
• Broad Street School (Bridgeton)
• Farmingdale Public School (Farmingdale)
• Hawkins Street School (Newark)
• Middle Township High School (Cape May Court House)
• Morris-Union Jointure Commission (New Providence)
• Mott Elementary School (Trenton)
• PG Chambers School (Cedar Knolls)
• Stony Brook Elementary School (North Plainfield)
• Sussex Avenue School (Newark)
• Washington Avenue School (Pleasantville)
• The Willow School (Gladstone)

US Wiggins College Preparatory Lab Family School (Camden) has been selected as the participant in the Bridge to AIE program. The Bridge to AIE Program was started by Young Audiences in 2015 to help prepare schools to join the AIE program. It provides additional support for schools during the residency and as the school prepares for the following year's application. During this year's residency, US Wiggins will work with step dancer and teaching artist Maxine Lyle of Soul Steps to learn the history and technique of stepping.

AIE has had a profound effect on schools throughout New Jersey. Kirsty Sucato of Bradley Beach writes of her 2018 - 2019 photography residency with teaching artist Erik James Montgomery, "One student said the residency was the best part of her year. She intends to join yearbook club and the school newspaper next year. She now thinks of herself as a photographer." Sucato continues by saying that the student had a major breakthrough because of the residency, raising her C average to an A+, the highest in the class. "She said she forged a bond with our teaching artist and other teachers who supported and celebrated her work. This would be a wonderful outcome for any student, but for this particular seventh grader, it was transformative."

Winning schools have expressed how proud and excited they are to be a 2019 - 2020 recipient of an AIE grant. "Artists in Education Residency Grant Program has provided Morris-Union Jointure Commission students with many great learning opportunities," says Denise Smallacomb, Assistant Superintendent at MUJC. "We are extremely excited this year to have a residency that will result in a traveling hip hop team performing in schools and community centers throughout Union County. Along the way students will build confidence and greater self-esteem." Morris-Union Jointure Commission will host a 20-day residency with Resident Teaching Artists Hip Hop Fundamentals. AIE congratulates these thirteen schools and we wish them a great school year with their resident teaching artist.

The application for the 2020 - 2021 Artists in Education Residency Grant Program will be available to the public on October 1, 2019. The deadline is February 7, 2020. Schools that are interested in applying can go to AIE's website www.njaie.org to learn more about the grant program, access the application, and connect with resources to assist with the application process.

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