PORTLAND, ORE – The Right Brain Initiative has received a $210,000 grant from The Oregon Community Foundation (OCF). The Studio to School grants are a new arts education project made possible by the $150 million Fred W. Fields gift to OCF in 2012. The grants were awarded to just 18 non-profit programs across the state.
“We are a foundation that values education – and the arts are a critical component of a complete education. We need solutions for making quality arts education opportunities available for all Oregon’s youth and we believe that our Studio to School partners are part of those solutions,” said OCF President and CEO Max Williams.
The funds will support Right Brain’s rapidly expanding partnership with the Hillsboro School District (HSD) for the next three years. During the upcoming 2014-15 school year, Right Brain will work with 12 HSD schools. Two of them—Eastwood Elementary and Evergreen Middle School—will join through funds from OCF. Right Brain will work with school staff to design dynamic and integrated arts programming for classrooms, with special support provided to art and music teachers.
“We are so pleased to partner with Right Brain to make arts integration a fundamental part of our schools’ work,” said Steve Larson, assistant superintendent, Hillsboro School District. “Right Brain reminds teachers of the reason they became teachers: to inspire children and to engage them in the wonder and discovery of learning.”
The funds will support the creation of a districtwide professional learning community for Right Brain partner principals in the HSD. These principals will share arts integration best practices, and receive coaching from staff at Quatama Elementary, a model Right Brain school. The grant safemdonline.com also affords Right Brain the opportunity to pilot the program model at its first middle school, Evergreen.
Right Brain has been awarded several other multi-year grants this fiscal year. The Collins Foundation and Schnitzer CARE Foundation awarded $150,000 and $30,000 grants to be spent over the next three years. The Meyer Memorial Trust, and James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation each provided two-year grants of $150,000 and $100,000 respectively.
Private funds currently make up just under 50% of the program’s $900,000 budget. Annual public funders consist of the City of Portland, Clackamas and Multnomah Counties, the Oregon Arts Commission, and the six participating school districts. Find a full list of program donors and partners at www.TheRightBrainInitiative.org/funding.
The Right Brain Initiative is a sustainable partnership of public schools, local government, foundations, businesses and the cultural community, which launched its programming in Portland area classrooms in January 2009, and now serves nearly 14,000 students in 49 schools. The program’s vision is to transform learning for all children through the arts, creativity, innovation and whole-brain thinking. The Right Brain Initiative is a project of the Regional Arts & Culture Council, with Young Audiences of Oregon & SW Washington serving as Implementation Partner. Read more online at www.TheRightBrainInitiative.org.
The Regional Arts & Culture Council is the local arts agency for Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington Counties, providing grants for artists, schools and nonprofit organizations; conducting workplace giving for arts and culture (“Work for Art”) and other advocacy efforts; presenting workshops and other forms of technical assistance; providing printed and web-based resources for artists; and integrating art into public spaces. Online at www.racc.org.