The Cathedral Arts Project has been approved for a $100,000 Grants for Arts Projects award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to continue and extend its Landscape of Education in the Arts in Duval (LEAD) initiative. This work has enabled CAP to gather data on arts education opportunities in all Duval County public schools and map the data on the artlook® map. CAP’s project is among 1,248 projects across America totaling $28,840,000 that were selected to receive this first round of fiscal year 2022 funding in the Grants for Arts Projects category. This is the third NEA Collective Impact award to support CAP’s LEAD initiative.
“With this new investment from the NEA, community stakeholders will be able to identify funding and partnership opportunities that will lead to greater resources for arts education and strengthen whole-child strategies.” – Kimberly Hyatt, CAP President & CEO
“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support arts projects like this one from the Cathedral Arts Project that help support the community’s creative economy,” said NEA Acting Chair Ann Eilers. “CAP is among the arts organizations nationwide that are using the arts as a source of strength, a path to well-being and providing access and opportunity for people to connect and find joy through the arts.”
This grant will fund the creation of a new position at CAP to assist with LEAD. The Impact & Advocacy Coordinator will recruit and lead an Impact Council to analyze the data collected by LEAD surveys. The collected data will populate the LEAD artlook® Map that documents arts education opportunities in public schools, city-wide demographics and education data. An Impact Council will be created to develop a data-based case statement identifying gaps in resources and strategize to redress them to assure all children in Jacksonville have access to high-quality arts education. It will serve as a model for other communities to transform data into access and action.
“Jacksonville has made incredible strides toward equitable access to quality arts education,” said Kimberly Hyatt, CAP President & CEO. “As participation in the arts has increased, Duval County students are performing better in school, ranking top in the nation for math and reading, competing and winning nationally in the arts and graduating at record-high rates. With this new investment from the NEA, community stakeholders will be able to identify funding and partnership opportunities that will lead to greater resources for arts education and strengthen whole-child strategies.”
For more information on other projects included in the Arts Endowment grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.