Access Grant-Funded Programs through Young Audiences
Young Audiences Arts for Learning: New Jersey & Eastern Pennsylvania offers several grant-funded programs throughout the year that help schools with limited funds access our arts education programming. These programs are funded through generous donations and grants, and are available to a limited number of qualifying schools.
If you have general questions or want to discuss your school’s eligibility, please contact us.
Arts Lab
Apply to receive grant-funded programming through Arts Lab.
If your school has limited resources to support arts education, you can apply to receive grant-funded programming from YA through Arts Lab.
We offer two options: long-term 20-Day residencies and short-term 5-10 day residencies
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Applications for the 20-day residencies open in early spring for the next academic year.
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Applications for the short-term residencies open in early fall for the same academic year.
Latest News and Application Information
Young Audiences’ Arts Lab Announces 10-Day and 20-Day Artist Residencies in New Jersey
Through Arts Lab offerings, YA can help schools achieve these goals:
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School partners and YA co-create customized models for advancing Culturally Responsive Arts Education in schools, helping to positively affect school climate and culture.
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Support teachers in the planning and execution of teaching and learning by supporting learning goals they are working on.
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Employ creative practices to improve student engagement resulting in long-term retention of academic concepts.
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Reinforce student ownership of the learning resulting in reinforcement of Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) competencies.
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Increase student self confidence with leading and expanding upon the creative process.
Short-Term (5 to 10-day) Arts Lab Residencies
Looking for some exciting and engaging programs for your students and school community? YA’s Arts Lab can be your solution! We want to address your school’s needs and wants through the Arts.
Opportunities include:
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Exciting performances
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Engaging workshops
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Transformational long-term residencies
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Turnkey professional learning
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Fun community and family arts nights
Choose any or all of these offerings to share with your school community.
Who can apply:
New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania public or private schools serving Pre-K through 12th grade.
YA Teaching Artist and a school partner of their choice.
Priority will be given to schools with free/reduced lunch rates above 40% and schools that can show significant cuts to their arts education and/or general school budgets.
Long-Term (20-Day) Arts Lab Residencies
A Young Audiences Arts Lab Residency grant places professional teaching artists in your classroom for a long-term (20-day minimum) residency. Residencies are customized for any grade level or arts discipline (performing, visual, literary, etc.).
A 20-day Arts Lab Residency provides 16 days of workshops for students, professional development for your administration and staff, a culminating event to engage the school and its community, and a reflection day for students to reflect on their achievements.
Arts Lab Residencies are an opportunity to:
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Access Programming in value of $14,500
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Impact curriculum
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Expand the arts experiences of students and teachers
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Provide effective professional development in the arts
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Create long-term impact on your school and community through the arts
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Incorporate Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into your curriculum
Who can apply:
Any New Jersey public, private, charter, or parochial school serving grades Pre-K through 12th grade.
A professional Teaching Artist and a New Jersey school partner of their choice.
A New Jersey arts organization and a New Jersey school partner of their choice.
Made possible by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Arts Impact Initiative
Bringing the Arts to Schools in Need
The Arts Impact Initiative (Aii) provides substantial and sustained arts programs for students in public schools that have little or no arts education programming. Through the generous support of corporations, foundations, local businesses, and individuals, this program launched in the fall of 2006 and has expanded since then to reach more students every year.
The Arts Impact Initiative Program:
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Infuses sustained arts programming into elementary and middle schools to achieve a broad understanding of the arts and their potential to stimulate growth, learning, and change.
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Offers professional learning opportunities for teachers and administrators to promote understanding of the arts as an important tool for learning and encourage inclusion of the arts in daily classroom activities.
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Allows students to gain increased knowledge and skills within individual art forms.
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Empowers students to cultivate an appreciation for the arts and to develop and nurture their own imaginations and creative abilities for success in life.
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Increases awareness and appreciation of histories, cultures, and points of view.
Latest News and Application Information
Arts Impact Initiative schools receive a full complement of YA programming, which can include:
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Planning sessions by Young Audiences staff, teachers, and administrators to meet each school’s unique needs, goals, and curriculum.
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Professional learning opportunities involving artists, teachers, and administrators that facilitate arts integration, creative teaching strategies, and cross-content curriculum connections.
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A series of performances for the whole school, up to 250 students per performance.
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In-depth, multi-day, hands-on art-making workshops that can complement the school-wide performances and further support core-curriculum activities.
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Artist residencies that provide multi-day hands-on art making workshops serve 3-4 classes/day; up 25 students per class.
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A culminating event to promote community belonging.
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Program assessment that demonstrates the joy and effectiveness arts learning has on student growth.
These programs are all Trenton Board of Education-approved.
Reaching More Eastern Pennsylvania Schools
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78% growth in the last three years
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Aii provides 5-, 10-, 15-, and 20-day arts residencies to Philadelphia schools
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Awarded a William Penn Foundation Grant for Aii work in Philadelphia
Commitment to Trenton
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Aii was initiated in Trenton in 2006 when drastic funding cuts eliminated the arts.
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Every elementary and middle school in Trenton is included in Aii, every year.
Arts Impact Initiative: Trenton
Aii provides arts education programming to Trenton schools at no cost. All programming aligns with NJDOE emphasis on arts education as a core subject, nurturing creativity, critical thinking and cultural understanding. Choose programming that enriches your school’s curriculum and activates community belonging.
The Arts Impact Initiative is offered FREE to all Trenton Public Schools Grades K-9! The programs may be valued up to $4,500. Trenton Board of Education approved.
2024-2025 Partner Schools
- 9th Grade Academy
- Benjamin C. Gregory Elementary School
- Benjamin Franklin Elementary School
- Cadwalader Elementary School
- Clara Parker Intermediate School
- Darlene C. McKnight Elementary School
- Dr. Crosby Copeland Elementary School
- George Washington Elementary School
- Grace A. Dunn Middle School
- Ulysses S. Grant Intermediate School
- Hedgepeth-Williams Intermediate School
- Thomas Jefferson Intermediate School
- Joseph Stokes Elementary School
- Joyce Kilmer Intermediate School
- Luis Munoz-Rivera Elementary School
- Gershom Mott Elementary School
- Carroll Robbins Elementary School
- William Harrison Elementary School
Creative Beginnings
Arts Education for Early Childhood Classrooms
Arts accessibility is critical for preschoolers, as it meets their unique developmental needs. Arts education in preschool develops and strengthens imagination, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills; plays a central role in motor skills and language development; and promotes social skills and school readiness.
Creative Beginnings provides quality arts experiences in early childhood classrooms at no cost to the schools or families. The program provides hands-on arts experiences for students and training for teachers to regularly integrate the arts into their teaching practice. Arts-rich teaching becomes the new standard and benefits future generations of students.
Latest News and Application Information
Participating teachers:
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Increase their use of child-centered arts activities and become more comfortable implementing creative activities with students.
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Develop confidence and recognition of their personal creativity.
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Model language with students that encourages thought and reflection.
Participating students experience:
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Movement, music, storytelling, and visual art led by a professional teaching artist and the classroom teacher.
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Programming that supports language development, illumination of math and science concepts, and modeling positive relationships with peers and adults.
Program design is consistent with Department of Education Preschool Teaching and Learning Expectations and with Expected Outcomes for Head Start.
Creative Beginnings was created in 1997, and since then we have served hundreds of teachers throughout New Jersey. The project has received funding from PNC, The Prudential Foundation, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Turrell Fund, Princeton Area Community Foundation, the Burke Foundation, and the Fred C. Rummel Foundation.
United We Create
Strengthening Understanding between Muslims and Non-Muslims
United We Create (UWC) is an innovative, independently evaluated, arts-centered approach to building connected school communities with a focus on strengthening understanding between Muslims and Non-Muslims.
The independently assessed model improves student and teacher understanding of Muslim culture, increases empathy, and helps participants recognize bias. UWC promotes respect for other backgrounds, perspectives, and cultures.
Latest News and Application Information
Building Connected Communities
The popular new comic character Ms. Marvel wowed us this summer as we rooted for the newest hero, a NJ teenager and Muslim-American, Kamala Khan. Ms. Marvel showed us just one example of how fun and unique exploring Muslim cultures and storytelling can be. UWC offers students an opportunity to make connections through the arts to Muslim traditions and cultures around the world.
Four professional teaching artists bring performances, workshops, and professional learning to classrooms to explore artforms from American Muslim communities and Muslim regions around the world. Students, teachers, and families make cultural connections and learn about commonalities across different cultures and communities, while increasing positive perceptions of Muslim identities.
United We Create aligns with character education, social studies, world religion, and anti-bullying curriculums.
What Can United We Create Do For Your School?
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Provide engaging art activities that encourage cultural competency, kindness and empathy, and respect among students
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Increase knowledge of Muslim cultures through programs exploring Muslim folklore, ethos, and traditions
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Help students develop positive perception of themselves and others
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Cultivate culturally responsive classrooms through hands-on professional learning opportunities
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Improve your school’s climate through arts programming that increases student engagement and social connection
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Strengthen school and home connections through family art making workshops
Testimonials
United We Create Programs
Good Character
This performance includes a series of interactive stories about good character told by Muslim grandmothers to their grandchildren.
Program Type: Assembly Performances
Music & Movement Where Muslims Live
Experience the music and movement traditions of Islamic communities. Karim Nagi guides students in a participatory experience of music and dance from different Muslim communities around the world.
Program Type: Assembly Performances
The following programs are exclusive to the United We Create project:
In-Class Workshop: Storytelling with TAHIRA
In this workshop, students engage in hands-on storytelling exercises and create their own stories around Muslim characters who face obstacles related to how they experience the world around them. (Offered In-Person or Live Streamed)
In-Class Workshop: Geometric Patterns with Ann Shafer
Students learn about the history, significance, and creation process of Islamic geometric designs, an artform that has been used for centuries as a vibrant way to decorate architecture, textiles, and books.
Family Engagement Workshop with Queen Nur
This dynamic program explores the collecting and sharing of games through family generations and instructs participating families on how to create their own games. (Offered In-Person, Live Streamed or Recorded)
Family Engagement Workshop with Karim Nagi
An interactive family workshop sharing rhythmic instruments, music, and movement from places including Egypt, Tuareg, and Palestine. (Offered Live Streamed or Recorded)
Teacher Professional Learning with TAHIRA
Educators are provided with researched data about Muslim youth experiences of harassment, intimidation and bullying (HIB) in schools, and offered ways educators can foster cultural competency in the classroom. (Offered In-Person or Live Streamed)
United We Create Teaching Artists
TAHIRA
Queen Nur
Karim Nagi
This program is funded by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art’s Building Bridges Program.
United We Discover
United We Discover aims to increase positive perceptions of Disabled identities, increase inclusion and equitable educational experiences in schools, and build connected communities.
Each participating school works with one lead teaching artist who has expertise in working with Disabled students and/or a teaching artist having personal lived experience as a Disabled person. School educators, the lead teaching artist, and YA staff will undertake a co-planning process to design a suite of programs that can include any combination of school-wide performances, in-depth residency work, professional learning for teachers, and community programming based on each school’s needs. In addition to core work with the lead teaching artist, schools can choose programming with visiting artists.
Latest News and Application Information
United We Discover addresses:
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The lack of arts opportunities for students with disabilities, by bringing the arts directly to students in their schools.
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Negative perceptions of Disabled people, by delivering programs designed to foster respect, understanding, and connection.
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Low self-esteem often experienced by Disabled students and those receiving IEP/504 services, by providing opportunities for self-expression, new skill development, and feelings of accomplishment
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Separation of self-contained and general education classrooms, by providing programs in which Disabled and non-Disabled students co-create art.
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Social isolation experienced by Disabled students, by fostering empathy and a sense of community among participants.
*YA recognizes the importance of language when describing identities. In acknowledgment of individuals’ diverse identities and varied language preferences, we use three terms throughout our United We Discover efforts: Disabled students/artists; students with disabilities; and students receiving IEP/504 services.
See the Impact of United We Discover
Teaching Artists since 2020
- Bobby Beetcut
- David Harrell
- Erik Jame Montgomery
- Heidi Latsky Dance
- Hip Hop Fundmentals
- Laura Marchese
- Marilyn Keating
- Mary Knysh
- Molly Gaston Johnson
- Musiquita
- TAHIRA
- The Colors of Frida
- The Amazing Junk Jam Band
School Partners since 2020
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Anna Iandoli Early Learning Center, Paterson, NJ
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Celebrate the Children, Denville, NJ
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McKinley Elementary, Newark, NJ
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Mercer Elementary, Hamilton, NJ
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Paterson School 15, Paterson, NJ
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Paul Robeson Community School, New Brunswick, NJ
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Salome Ureña Elementary School, Newark, NJ
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Walter C Black Elementary School, Hightstown, NJ
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Wilson Avenue School, Newark, NJ
Program Details
Participant Population:
Program services are provided to allow for Disabled students and general education peers to have a shared arts experience. Program services can include arts-based professional learning for teachers who work with students who receive IEP and 504 services, and general education students and Community Arts & Creativity programming.
Scope of Programming:
For maximum impact each school schedules 2 planning meetings, 3 performances and 10-15 workshop days, 1 professional learning session, and one community arts and creativity session.
