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Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is the independent federal agency whose funding and support gives Americans the opportunity to participate in the arts, exercise their imaginations, and develop their creative capacities. Through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector, the NEA supports arts learning, affirms and celebrates America’s rich and diverse cultural heritage, and extends its work to promote equal access to the arts in every community across America.

The Arizona Commission on the Arts is deeply committed to promoting and supporting lifelong learning in, through and about the arts. To ensure that our grantmaking in this area continues to serve the sector’s evolving needs, reach applicants where they are, and direct essential funding support to the most diverse range of programs and projects, Arts Learning Grants are available in two distinct categories:

The Musical Theater Songwriting Challenge is a national competition for high school students who have a passion for writing songs that could be part of a musical theater production. Launched by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) as a three-city pilot program in 2016, the Songwriting Challenge offers six semi-finalists mentorship opportunities with professional songwriters and musicians. Finalists will be awarded a school scholarship and more.

This week, we’re joining the nationwide celebration of Arts in Education by looking at innovative arts-based programs that enrich and enhance education. Today, we look at Conducted Stories Improv, a new program devised by Phoenix-based teaching artists Amy Carpenter and Stacey Reed Hanlon that uses improvisational theatre techniques to help teens on the autism spectrum develop social and communication skills. 

This week we're celebrating National Arts in Education Week. Yesterday we talked about some of our arts learning programs and today, we take a closer look at one of our favorites: Poetry Out Loud.

Poetry Out Loud builds on the resurgence of poetry as an oral art form, as seen in the slam poetry movement and the immense popularity of rap music among youth. Poetry Out Loud invites the dynamic aspects of slam poetry, spoken word and theater into the English class. Through Poetry Out Loud, students can master public speaking skills, build self-confidence and learn about their literary heritage.