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SC Arts Commission Arts in Education Program

Purpose

To provide individual schools involved in the Arts in the Basic Curriculum (ABC) Project the opportunity to develop in-depth, integrated residencies with traditional artists that reflect cooperative planning, effective communication, and thoughtful assessment.

Description

The Celebrating Traditions: Residency Collaborations for Traditional Artists and Teachers Program (RCT) supports the efforts of individual schools in the ABC program to create effective integrated residencies in cooperation with traditional artists from the SC Arts Commission’s Roster of Approved Artists. Participants, including artists and teachers, will be expected to commit to extensive cooperative planning, periodic reflection, and documentation of assessment concerning student, teacher, and artist success.

Schools accepted to the program will begin with training and cooperative planning at the Institute for Community Scholars Conference, July 24-28, 2006, at Palm Key Resort in Ridgeland, South Carolina. Once training is complete, each residency will require 20-48 hours of time from both teacher and teaching artist, including planning, implementation, and reflection. The SC Arts Commission prefers that residencies conclude no later than January 31, 2007.

Schools participating in the pilot phase of the RCT program must meet eligibility requirements as outlined in the grant application.

Definitions

The vast amount of knowledge you retain has been learned informally. The broad term for this body of knowledge is called culture. Within the context of your culture, you retain membership in various communities. You are born into a family, have playmates as children and peers as adults. You associate yourself with a neighborhood, a place of worship or a workplace. In every case, each community holds their own special cultural practices, and you learn these cultural practices through informal education and experience. The cultural practice of a community is called folklife. The folklife of a given community allows for the nurturing of artistic expression within the context of the community’s values and aesthetics. These aesthetic expressions resulting from the folklife of a community are defined as traditional arts. Traditional arts span disciplines and include performing arts such as music and dance; visual arts such as basketry, blacksmithing and pottery; and oral artistic traditions such as storytelling. In the study and presentation of traditional arts, the emphasis is not on the product, but the process by which it is made and the reasons why a community supports it.

Why Support Folklife and Traditional Arts?

There are many reasons to undertake folklife documentation and traditional arts programming. Documentation and presentation helps us to celebrate and promote community-based art forms that make our region distinctive. Both visitors to our state and South Carolinians are interested in cultural traditions found only in South Carolina. From African-American sweetgrass basket making traditions on the coast to Catawba pottery traditions to Euro-American bluegrass music traditions in the Upstate, South Carolina is home to a variety of cultural communities with their own traditional art forms. In addition to established cultural communities, we acknowledge and appreciate the increasing diversity of our citizenry and promote the folklife and traditional arts of emerging communities and their cultural contributions to our state. Folklife documentation and traditional arts presentation creates a context where creativity in everyday life is celebrated. In addition, communities can take pride in local traditions and can invite a public beyond the community to learn, understand, respect and find commonalities in the human experience. It is about the very reasons for living, and the celebrations and beauty we create on a daily basis.

Eligibility Requirements

• Applicant must be:
1. A SC public or private school currently participating as an Arts in the Basic Curriculum site.
2. Available to attend the Institute for Community Scholars Conference, July 24-28, 2006, in Palm Key, SC. The participating teaching artist must also be available for this training.
• Teachers participating must be available to attend both the fall and spring ABC site meetings.
• Preference will be shown to residencies that conclude by January 31, 2007.

Restrictions

1. Contracted artists must be on the SC Arts Commission's Roster of Approved Artists. If the school wishes to use an artist not on the Roster of Approved Artists, or if the artist is not listed as a folk or traditional artist, please contact Craig Stinson, Director of Folk and Traditional Arts, at 803-734-8697, to discuss accommodations.
2. ABC Districts are not eligible to apply.

Funding Eligibility

The SC Arts Commission expects to fund 3-5 applications during the pilot phase of the program. Applicants may request up to $1600. Requests may be approximations, as the design of the residency may be altered through collaborative planning.

Match

1:2 (applicant: SCAC). ABC Advancement grant funds may be used for residency expenses.

Deadline

May 15, 2006

Applications must be postmarked or hand-delivered to the SC Arts Commission offices before 5:00 PM, no later than the stated date, or, when the deadline occurs on a weekend or holiday, no later than the next business day.

Schools applying for the program are strongly encouraged to contact Katie Fox, SCAC Director of Arts in Education, at 803-734-8767, during the month of April.

Filing Fee

None

Grant Payments

Payment will be on a reimbursement basis only and will be released upon receipt and approval of a Final Report.

Review Process

Please contact Katie Fox, SCAC Arts in Education Director, 803-734-8767, for guidance in completing the application, or on selecting and contracting an artist for participation in your residency.

The initial review of applications focuses on eligibility, compliance with guidelines, and completeness of packet. The RCT project panel then reviews the applications and grants awards. During the pilot phase of this program, decisions will be based on clarity and merit of the proposed program, but may also reflect other factors to assure a participant pool which represents a cross-section of South Carolina schools. All applicants will receive a letter announcing the Commission's decision.

Final Report

All grantees are required to file a Final Report (PDF) (How To Use PDFs) at the end of the grant period. The Final Report Due Date is printed on your contract. Failure to file the final report by the due date will result in cancellation of the award and repayment of funds received. SCAC will not fund applicants who have outstanding final reports. Submit only original final report forms with original signatures. Do not submit copies or fax your final report form.

Required Application Materials

Each page/item of materials must be labeled with the name of the applicant organization and be submitted in a format suitable for copying. Typeface must be legible, and no less than 12 point.

Do not use 3-ring binders, folders, or bind the application materials in any way other than with binder clips or paper clips.

The application package must include one complete collated set of items as follows:

1. Two Forms

Originals, completed and signed. Forms are in Portable Document Format (PDF). How To Use PDFs

• Grant Application for Organizations
• Artist Utilization Detail

2. Narrative

The Narrative should not exceed three numbered pages, and must provide the information outlined below. Each item in the Narrative should be identified by the appropriate letter and topic heading. Consideration will be given based on completeness of information provided, clarity of description, the residency’s adherence to SC Curriculum Standards, the residency’s connection to the local community, and feasibility.

A.  Describe the demographics of the school population:

1. Grade levels (in building, as well in the classes served by residency).
2. Subject area(s) taught in the classroom where the residency will occur.
3. Number of students (in building, as well as in classes served by residency).
4. Percentage of students (in entire school) qualified to receive free or reduced price lunch.
5. Percentage of students (in entire school) with special needs. If possible, please also include percentage of students with special needs in the classroom(s) to be served.

B.  Describe the Planned Residency:

1. Description of school’s local folklife cultures and traditional arts, and any connection drawn between local culture and the proposed residency.
2. A succinct description and timeline of the proposed residency, which should be completed through no more than 8 classroom visits from the artist. Please include the number of classes served per visit from the teaching artist.
3. SC Curriculum Standards (in the arts and/or other curriculum areas) to be addressed by residency.

C.  Qualifications of participating instructors

1. Classroom teacher’s history of participation in residencies.
2. Classroom teacher’s history of participation in other integrated or team-taught lessons.
3. Teaching artist’s history of participation in residencies.
4. Teaching artist’s history of participation as an artist in the local community.

3. Resumes

Résumés or biographical sketches for participating teachers and teaching artist, as well as for a local Community Scholar, if one is known.

4. Required Support Materials

Letter of Support from school principal stating that the school or district will provide the matching funds for the program.

Submit completed applications to:

AIE - RCT Program
South Carolina Arts Commission
1800 Gervais Street
Columbia, SC 29201

NOTE: Incomplete applications will not be accepted. Submit only original application forms with original signatures. Do not submit copies or fax your application.