Operating Grants          Special Project Grants          Community Arts Grants          SmArts Grants

• Create experimental program that integrates arts in curriculum using artists in residence to team-teach alongside regular instructors.
• Offer short term grants to as many schools as possible, while running 3-year projects in select schools to collect data.
• Get an outside agency to evaluate if arts have “supercharged” learning and dramatically increased state test scores.

    

SmARTS Education Program - History

ArtsinStark makes grants to improve learning or, as we say, to create “smarter” kids.  In 2006, ArtsinStark began the new SmARTS Program to help schools use the arts to supercharge learning.   To date, ArtsinStark has funded SmARTS projects in 32 Stark County schools for 10,000 kids. SmARTS grants come in two forms, based on how long the project lasts: 1) short term SmARTS and  2) long term SmARTS.

Short term SmARTS grants are for projects lasting from three to nine months.  They are meant to give any school a chance to experiment with integrating the arts into the curriculum.  Applications for short term SmARTS grants are received every fall through the Arts Council regular Grants Program and you can find information on our website in September.

Here is a list of a few of the short term SmARTS grants we’ve given to schools: 

1. Canton City (Crenshaw Middle): To improve reading, this middle school mounted  10-wk reading and music program for 5 & 6^th  graders where each session incorporated both a reading activity and an instrumental music lesson.
2. Jackson - (Sauder Elementary):  To improve writing skills, two local visual artists came to the school to help students create their very own books.    
3. Massillon - (Massillon Middle): To teach world history, Holocaust survivor, artist and author Dr. Nelly Toll spent a day with 300 7th graders.  Before she arrived, students read her book, completed research papers on the Holocaust, and assumed a Jewish identity.
4. North Canton - (Hoover High): To teach American History, professional swing dancers-in-residence led all 10^th grade U.S. History and English classes in a unique learning experiment on Swing Era history.
5. Canton - St. Peter School: To teach science, third and fourth graders used arts recycling and a mural project to learn about the environment.
   

Long term SmARTS grants are for projects that last two to three years.  Four school systems are currently participating: Canton City, Canton Local, Massillon, and Jackson.   In each one ArtsinStark is providing $10,000 a year and the Stark Educational Partnership is overseeing the evaluation process to scientifically measure the results.  Here is a summary of the four long term SmARTS projects in place right now:    

1. Jackson: This 3-year project called “The Fabric of Our Culture” is using arts to increase the reading comprehension scores of selected sixth grade students by 15%.  Ninth and tenth graders at the Jackson School for the Arts are working with sixth graders at Jackson Middle School, along with a team of visiting artists.  (Status: Currently in Year Two)
2. Canton Local: This 3-year project called “Dream Reading and Writing” is using arts to improve reading performance of a group of 6th grade students at Faircrest Memorial Middle School by 15%. The project involves visiting artists, artists-in-residence, project-based learning and action research.  (Status: Currently in Year Two)
3. Massillon: This 3-year project is using the arts to improve student performance in reading, writing, science and social studies at Gorrell Elementary.  Year one is “Live Happily Ever After with a Good Book.”  Year two is “Going Green at Gorrell”, and year three is “Bam Slam Poetry Jam.” (Status: Currently in Year Two) 
4. Canton City: This 2-year project is using the arts to show teachers how to improve test scores in general at the Summit Arts Academy.  “SmARTS at Summit” is a combination of teacher workshops, neighborhood programs, and artists-in-residence.   (Status: Starting Year One)

Applications for long term SmARTS grants are by invitation only and happen through a competitive process hosted once every three years.