August 23, 2010

Performing and Visual Arts, Northwest (PAVAN) is an arts consortium serving the educational populations of Clarke, Frederick, Loudoun, Shenandoah, Warren Counties and the City of Winchester in collaboration with Shenandoah University. This year PAVAN is excited to announce its seventh year for the Arts in the Classroom Grant.

In order to provide local school students with maximum exposure to the arts, PAVAN will award an equal amount of grant monies to each school district listed above during the 2010-2011 academic year. As you will see on the following page, public school teachers and administrators are encouraged to submit their grant requests directly to their public school PAVAN Board Representative(s) (contact information listed below) via email or hard copy (faxed or mailed to the appropriate address listed) no later than midnight Wednesday, September 30th. All grant requests will be reviewed by a grant review board and the winners of full or partial grant funding will be announced by e-mail on or before November 4, 2010. Please note: the Arts in the Classroom application process will only happen one time this school year. For example, if you have a project that is scheduled in March, you must apply for the grant in the fall. Regardless of when your project may occur in the school year, applications will only be accepted from August 23 through September 30. Please do not submit a grant for a project that will take place before the November 4th decision deadline as it will not be considered. To reiterate, PAVAN grant monies will only be applicable on projects dated after November 4th.

The PAVAN Arts in the Classroom Grant has been created to enrich the public school arts curriculum and to spread awareness of financial assistance to all teachers in the participating districts. Teachers and administrators may apply for performance assistance, guest artist workshops, master classes, special project grants as well as fieldtrip assistance. Typical grant amounts range from $50.00 to $300.00. Please be sure to fill out the following page completely. Do not hesitate to contact your public school board representative (listed below) if you have questions about the grant process.

We look forward to reviewing the Arts in the Classroom Grant requests. While our selections will be difficult, we are excited to support your artistic endeavors in the classroom. Please remember that this is a competitive grant process. All teachers and any administrators may apply; it is not necessary to be an arts teacher. We hope to expose local school students to the riches of the arts using local arts professionals and taking advantage of the many arts resources that we are so fortunate to have in our area.   Grants typically range from the $50 to $300.00 range

Previous grantees have spent their monies to attend musical performances such as the world renowned groups like Chanticleer and Apollo's Fire. Other particpants have purchased musical instuments, stage makeup, art supplies and costumes.   A few other examples are hiring guest artists to come to display their talents and teach students new skills.  We encourage creativity. This is your oportunity to do something you've always wanted to do but couldn't due to lack of funds!  You can be as creative as you want - think outside of the box.  

Good luck! On behalf of your students, thank you for your support of the arts. Once again, we look forward to receiving your grant proposals and do not hesitate to contact your public school PAVAN board representative or me if you have any questions about the grant process.

Sincerely,

Shirley Dunsmore

PAVAN Coordinator