Apply for 2013 Austin Creative Classroom Funding

The Austin Creative Classroom Fund (ACCF) exists to encourage the development of arts-rich schools in the Austin Independent School District and to support student achievement through creative learning.

While all AISD campuses are eligible to apply, priority weighting will be given to applications from:
• Austin ISD elementary schools with an enrollment of more than 60 percent students who are qualified for the federal free and reduced program (list of schools)
• Schools officially designated as a Fine Arts Academy (e.g. McCallum Fine Arts Academy, Lamar FAA)

Also,
• Teachers may also form partnerships with community arts organizations to apply for funding (but the grant application must be submitted by the school);
• Schools may form partnerships with each other as a way to receive priority consideration (Ex: A middle school might work with an elementary school on the priority consideration list).

Any teacher making an application must obtain an authorizing signature from his or her principal.

The fund offers three funding levels:

Targeted Project Grants (typically $500 - $10,000): Strategic grants funding targeted outcomes usually modest in scope and scale, often impacting one or more grade levels, subject areas or a specific subset of the school’s population. These grants are the easiest to apply for and receive with simple post-project reporting requirements.

Creative Catalyst Grants (typically $10,000 – $30,000): Medium scale grants designed to catalyze a program or an initiative that results in a significant impact for the campus. Typically these grants will provide the resources to take an existing program to the next level or start an important new initiative. Successful Creative Catalyst grants will consider sustainability of the project after this grant cycle and be subject to higher post-project reporting requirements. Typically, only a few Creative Catalyst grants will be awarded, therefore this will be a very competitive category.

Transformational Grants (typically $30,000 – $100,000): Large scale grants that have the potential to transform a campus through creative learning. This funding category supports innovative approaches that have the capacity to improve quality of creative learning for all students at a campus. Successful Transformational Grants will consider sustainability of the project after the grant cycle and be subject to the strictest post-project reporting requirements. Only one or two of these grants will be awarded, making this the most competitive category.

Application Review
Grants will be reviewed and evaluated on the following criteria. The grants will be evaluated on their Contribution, Quality, Capacity and Priority:

1. The Contribution of the project, which includes:
• The potential Impact of the project on student learning
• How well the project meets the Needs of Students
• How well the project meets one or more of the Goals of the Austin Creative Classroom Fund
• How well the project meets the Goals of the Department, Program or Strand
• How well the project meets one of more of the Goals of the School
• The potential for the project to be Replicable and/or Sustainable

2. The Creative Quality of the project, which includes:
• The Artistic merit of the project
• The Educational merit of the project
• The Creative merit of the project

3. The Capacity to successfully implement the project, which includes:
• Adequacy of Funding and other Resources
• The capabilities of the Lead Faculty and Staff Involved
• The strength of collaboration, if appropriate.

4. Schools designated by the donor for Priority consideration:
• Austin ISD elementary schools with an enrollment of more than 60 percent students who are qualified for the federal free and reduced program • Schools officially designated as AISD Fine Arts Academies (such as McCallum HS, Lamar MS).

Items Ineligible for Funding
The Austin Creative Education Fund will typically not pay for:
• Activities designed to replace or supplant your current arts funding
• Appreciation Events
• Incentives such as gift cards
• Travel for concerts, competitions, etc. (We encourage you to seek other funding sources for these needs.)
• Non-project related staff time or staff time associated with regular and normal duties.