Department of Education Announces $500 Million 'Early Learning Challenge'

The U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services have announced the launch of a $500 million grant competition designed to encourage states to create comprehensive plans to transform early-learning systems. Administered jointly by the two federal departments, the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge will further expand the federal Race to the Top program, which was created in 2009 to spearhead education reform at the state level. The new competition will encourage states applying for a grant to increase access to quality early-learning programs for low-income and disadvantaged children, design integrated and transparent systems that align their early care and education programs, bolster training and support for the early-learning workforce, create robust evaluation systems to document and share effective practices and successful programs, and help parents make informed decisions about care for their children. Additional information about the competition, including eligibility criteria and the range and number of grants to be awarded will be announced in the coming weeks.

The Department of Education also announced that the nine states that did not win grants in the first two rounds of the 2010 Race to the Top competition will be eligible to compete for $200 million in additional funds later this year. The states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and South Carolina — may apply for grants ranging from $10 million to $50 million in the fall.

Based on the early success of Race to the Top, the Obama administration has proposed to continue the program in 2012 and is working to develop a district-level competition. "Every state that applied for Race to the Top funds now has a blueprint for raising educational quality across America," said U.S. secretary of education Arne Duncan. "These funds will encourage states to continue their courageous work to challenge the status quo and build on the momentum for education reform happening in our classrooms, schools, and communities." 

Deadline: December 2, 2011 (Letters of Inquiry)

Media and Performing Artists and Nonprofit Organizations in Northern and Central California Invited to Apply for Collaborative Project Grants

The Creative Work Fund , a program of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund supported by grants from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the James Irvine Foundation, invites artists and nonprofit organizations to apply for grants for collaborative projects featuring media or performing artists.

Launched in 1994, the Creative Work Fund is designed to help address the decline in support for artists and new works. Since its inception, CWF has contributed $8 million to advance art-making by California artists in a variety of disciplines. Grants are awarded to genuine, creative partnerships between artists and nonprofit organizations. Each year, CWF focuses on projects from different disciplines; the 2012 grants program will fund collaborative projects that feature media or performing artists.

The CWF grant program emphasizes the creation of new work — not distribution or productions of work already developed. Projects may culminate in any form, but they must feature a lead artist with a strong track record as a media artist or performing artist and collaboration between that artist and a nonprofit organization.

The fund uses the following definitions for eligible artists. Media artists create narrative, documentary, animated, or experimental time-based works using audio, digital, film, and/or video media.

Computer arts also are included in this category. (Please note that the fund considers still photography in its visual arts category.) Performing artists create or execute work in dance, opera, performance art, theater, and vocal and instrumental music. (Please note that the fund considers spoken word artists in its literary arts category.)

Any kind of 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization may apply (but not a private foundation). A recognized religious organization, even if it does not have 501(c)(3) status, may apply, as may a public agency (such as a parks department, health department, or public school). A nonprofit organization that clearly fills a charitable or educational purpose but does not have nonprofit status may apply with an eligible nonprofit fiscal sponsor.

The principal collaborating artists and organizations must live or be located in the Northern or Central California counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, or Stanislaus; and have been there for at least two years.

A total of up to $810,000 will be available through grants ranging from $10,000 to $40,000. Artists and organizations should plan projects and prepare and sign their Letters of Inquiry together.

Deadline: February 10, 2012

New Public-Private Partnership to Connect Latin American Performing Artists With U.S. Audiences

The Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation have announced a public-private partnership in support of the Southern Exposure: Performing Arts of Latin America program, which is designed to bring exemplary contemporary and traditional performing arts from Latin America to audiences across the U.S. that have little access to this work.

The new initiative will support the presentation of dance, music, and theater artists and ensembles and will include community activities designed to provide audiences with a greater understanding of the artists, their work, and respective cultures.

The pilot program will support projects for the 2012-13 performing season that are developed collaboratively by presenter consortia based in the U.S. and its territories and ensure that engagements take place in at least three different cities or towns. In addition to public performances, all projects will include complementary community activities intended to build appreciation for the visiting artists' work and cultures. Consortia will work together to develop print and electronic support material for their respective projects.

Each consortium must consist of a minimum of three and a maximum of five presenting organizations. Priority will be given to consortia that include at least one organization with little to no experience in presenting artists from outside the U.S. Consortium partners must be based either in different states and/or federal jurisdictions or, at a minimum, outside of a fifty-mile radius from one another. Each presenter in a consortium must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization or a unit of state or local government and have a minimum of three continuous years of experience offering multiple presentations by professional touring performing artists in a given season.

Grants will not exceed $25,000. Eligible expenses include artist fees, travel-related expenses, shipping, expenses related to support material creation and distribution, translation services, expenses related to community engagement activities, communications, marketing and promotion, some administration costs, and visa application services.

Complete program information and application guidelines are available at the MAAF Web site.

The electronic application as well as online grant workshop details will be available on the site in September.