The California Arts Council recently announced it plans to award $5,670 to Venice Arts as part of its Artists in Schools program.
This award will support media arts education programs at Olympic Continuation High School. Artists in Schools is the California Arts Council’s largest core grant program, supporting professional teaching artists in classroom and after-school settings.
The 2014-15 Artists in Schools program will provide funding for 119 arts organizations to help bring instruction in music, theater, dance, visual arts, and other art forms to children statewide during the school year.
With the support of the California Arts Council, Venice Arts will continue to partner with Olympic Continuation High School (OHS) to provide standards-based, 12-week intensive documentary workshops in photography and film. The students will explore community stories through photography, writing assignments, lab workshops (both traditional darkroom and digital) and journaling.
Like Venice Arts’ after-school programming, delivered at its location on Lincoln Boulevard in Venice, these workshops are designed to have a high level of impact on a small group of students, meeting the individual needs of participants through low student-to-artist ratios.
“We are thrilled to receive this renewed support from the California Arts Council, which enables us to continue our fruitful partnership with Olympic High School, with whom we have been working for the past six years,” said Elysa Voshell, Associate Director at Venice Arts. “The grant allows us to bring our proven, high-impact educational model into school classrooms, extending our reach to students whose learning is best supported by the small, alternative high school environment that OHS provides.”
“Arts education leads to higher graduation rates, increased creativity, and greater aspirations,” said Craig Watson, Director of the California Arts Council. “Through our Artist in Schools program, the California Arts Council strives to improve K-12 education for thousands of our state’s young people – many of whom might not have access to arts education without the high-quality teaching artist residencies made possible by these grants.”
