Dance Education grants make a difference in Maine schools

School districts and educators can apply by January 31, 2019

AUGUSTA-January 23, 2019—The power of dance is alive in Maine schools thanks to a Dance Education Grant offered by the Maine Arts Commission that is available to PK-12 schools and teaching artists until January 31, 2019. Applicants can apply for awards up to $2,500 to fund a dance residency in their school district.

Dance education makes a difference in children’s lives and creativity. Yet only five percent of all schools in Maine offer opportunities in this artistic discipline, according to the Arts Education Census study conducted in 2016 by the Maine Arts Commission.

The Dance Education Grant emphasizes high quality learning experiences for students and educators through a series of residencies that are administrated by teaching artists from the Arts Commission’s Teaching Artist Roster. Each residency is designed to teach the art of movement, performance, creative expression, and teamwork.

During this past school year, the dance education grant funded residencies at Freeport High School and Maranacook Middle School. Nancy Salmon, a teaching artist listed on the Arts Commission’s teaching artist roster, provided the instruction.

“The students know that dance is more than memorized steps,” Salmon said, reflecting on her residency program at Freeport High School that collaborated with the theater program. “They know how dance movement can enhance meaning of words in a script and how all dance and movement have elements in common. I believe all of us, teacher, students and visiting artist, have honed our adaptation, flexibility, and focus skills.”

Applying what they learned in the dance residency program, the Freeport theater class wrote a play based on three thematic stories, and then performed the piece as an interactive workshop for all second graders in the Freeport school district.

“The dance education grant is intended as seed money to grow a dance program,” said Argy Nestor, Director of Arts Education at the Maine Arts Commission. “This funding provides a unique opportunity, one that I hope all schools without dance ed curriculum in place will take advantage and apply.”

Funding for the grant is made possible through an annual dance performance presented by two schools and ten dance studios in collaboration with Thornton Academy dance educator and Maine Arts Leadership Initiative Teacher Leader Emma Arenstam Campbell.

Dance Education Grant guidelines application criterion is listed at www.MaineArts.com. Applications will be accepted until Thursday, January 31, 2019.The Commission encourages PK-12 educators or teaching artists to review the guidelines prior to applying. The funding cycle for the grant must take place September 1, 2019 through March 30, 2020.

For more information visit the grants and the teaching artist roster webpages at www.MaineArts.com.

For questions regarding the grants or current teaching roster, contact Argy Nestor, Director of Arts Education at 207-287-2713 or email at argy.nestor@maine.gov.