Maritz and the Arts and Education Council Announce $30,000 in Grants

Maritz, in collaboration with the Arts and Education Council, announced today that it has awarded $30,000 in grants ranging from $1,400 - $5,000 each to nine arts education projects in the St. Louis bi-state area through the Maritz Arts and Education Fund for Teachers. Maritz and the Arts and Education Council partner to offer this unique funding opportunity to individual schools and non-profit organizations to support projects and opportunities that encourage creativity in the classroom; the grants are administered by the Arts and Education Council and supported by Maritz. The unique funding program enables teachers to apply directly for a grant. Awards are granted at the beginning of the school year.

"Three years ago we created the Maritz Arts and Education Fund for Teachers in partnership with A&E to provide critical funding for art education projects in schools and nonprofit organizations throughout the St. Louis area that would otherwise go unfunded," stated Debbie Schirmer, Maritz senior community affairs manager. "At Maritz we are dedicated to empowering people to reach their full potential, and our philanthropic efforts reflect that same commitment; consequently, we are proud to partner with A&E, which has a similar mission. This award-winning program provides unique opportunities for students ... to maximize their creative potential and helps lay the groundwork for their future higher-learning endeavors. We are thrilled that, as a result of this program, so many students have been recognized and awarded college scholarships to continue on with their arts education."

In January 2012, the Gateway Center for Giving awarded Maritz its 2011 "Giving is On Time Award," part of its Excellence in Grantmaking program, for the Maritz Arts and Education Fund for Teachers. This award recognizes grantmakers who provide funding to meet the immediate needs of nonprofits and clients in the community, or worked closely with a nonprofit to help them realign their programs and strategies to better meet the needs of their clients and the community during these difficult economic times.

"The impact this program has had in just two years has been phenomenal and we are eagerly anticipating even more success stories with the awarding of these additional grants," says Cynthia A. Prost, president, Arts and Arts and Education Council Education President. When area educators were facing dramatic cuts in funding for arts programs, Maritz stepped forward to provide unique opportunities for growth and development and we couldn't be more pleased with the outcomes we're seeing. The positive results of this program will have lasting effects on students into their college years and beyond."

This year's applications were evaluated by a group of community leaders at the Centene Center for Arts and Education. The ultimate goal of this program is to support classroom-based projects and artistic opportunities that engage students in the process of being creative.

The 2012/2013 grant recipients are:

? Bayless Elementary School - Sculpting Good Character This project will involve 700 students in the process of working with clay and glaze as they create a self-portrait tile using a slab roller and tile maker. The tiles will be used to create a wall of self-portraits and will become part of a school-wide display.

? Brown Elementary School - Art to Remember Students and their families will create family tiles that represent the members of their family and their family history. The culminating event will be the creation of a Legacy Mural to celebrate the diversity and family history of their school.

? Immaculate Conception School - World Drumming Curriculum Dr. Will Schmid will introduce approximately 300 students in grades K-8 to a world-drumming curriculum. Students will foster teamwork, cooperation and respect for others through the group drumming setting. A checklist for each student's progress in these areas will be maintained throughout the school year.

? Mehlville School District - Masks: Teaching Character Education through the Face of Cultural Diversity The district's four middle schools will encourage more than 650 students to explore a wide variety of racial, ethnic and cultural identities while creating individual mask projects inspired by the principles of Character Education. Students will help record the daily progress within the classrooms with video cameras. An exhibition of the masks and final video will rotate through the four schools along with an exhibition at a local bank and a community-wide weekend celebration "A Taste of South County."

? Most Holy Trinity Catholic School and Academy - Woodworking Enrichment
This grant will fund the purchase of the tools and supplies necessary to start a woodworking class. This class is as a part of the mandatory extended day program for grades 5-8 during which the school strives to provide learning experiences that complement and reinforce core subjects.

? Normandy High School - The Color Purple, the Musical, "Uniting Our Community, Saving Our Youth"
In a year of Focusing on the Family the spring production of "The Color Purple, the Musical" continues the pursuit of bringing healing and unity to the community family. By presenting a popular yet poignant story, the hope is to start a discussion that will ultimately lead to solutions to the problems of educating children in their district.

? Orchard Farm Elementary School - iPads in Art
To provide the tools necessary to succeed, 12 iPads will be supplied to enhance art education activities. Students will work in pairs on technologically enhanced art every day. Funds to purchase additional apps will be generated on the website www.artsonia.com where students will receive 15% back from all products sold featuring their work.

? Windsor Intermediate Center - Guitar, A New Medium at Windsor Intermediate Center
Guitars will be introduced as a New Medium for teaching music concepts. Students will learn to play the guitar and compose their own music to be played on the guitar. The project will conclude with a concert, which will highlight the wide-ranging abilities and talents that have developed using the guitars in the classroom.

? Wood River / Hartford School District #15 - Filling Our Buckets
This project is based on a book by Carol McCloud, Have You Filled a Bucket Today? The premise of the story is that we all carry around an imaginary bucket; one can only fill his/her bucket by being kind to others and doing good deeds to make others happy. Approximately 440 students will create individual buckets from clay.

Maritz grants have benefited elementary, middle and high schools and have exposed students to new art forms and media. This past academic year a $5,000 grant awarded to McCluer High School to fund a student production of the musical Dreamgirls led to $156,000 in performing arts scholarships for the cast and crew. The students earned their scholarships through The Cappies, "Critics and Awards Program," following rave reviews of their production. The McCluer students and their teacher even had the opportunity to meet Jennifer Holliday, Tony-award winning actress who originated the role of Effie on Broadway, cast and crew members backstage prior to The Muny's production of the same show in July.

In addition to McCluer, nine other St. Louis Metropolitan area schools received a Maritz Arts and Education Fund for Teachers grant in 2011-2012. Maritz, in collaboration with the Arts and Education Council, awarded a total of $20,000 in grants ranging from $165 to $5,000 to support 10 special projects and opportunities that encouraged creativity in the classroom. These schools included: Churchill Center & School for Learning Disabilities; Gibson Elementary School; Hancock Place Elementary School; McCluer High School; O'Fallon Township High School; Orchard Farm Middle School; Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Elementary School; Our Lady of Providence School; St. Mary's High School and St. Patrick School. During the program's inaugural year in 2010-2011, $16,000 was awarded to six programs throughout the area.

To post a comment, you must register and login.