DATE: January 10, 2022
CONTACT: Sara Russell; [email protected] | 303.460.7408
A Child’s Song to Receive $10,000 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts
Thornton, CO—A Child’s Song (ACS) is pleased to announce it has been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to receive a Challenge America award of $10,000. This grant will support ACS’s At-Risk and Foster Youth Music Outreach programs. This grant is one of 262 Challenge America awards totaling $2.62 million that were announced by the NEA as part of its first round of fiscal year 2023 grants.
“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support arts projects in communities nationwide,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “Projects such as this one with A Child's Song strengthen arts and cultural ecosystems, provide equitable opportunities for arts participation and practice, and contribute to the health of our communities and our economy.”
"As parents of eight adopted children, grandparents of eight children (four adopted), and foster parents of more than 35 children (many with developmental and emotional challenges), my husband Charlie and I witnessed first-hand the profound effects of music and movement on brain development and cognitive function. Music is a universal language inclusive of all regardless of age or ability, but unfortunately music education is not easily accessible to many individuals. Our goal is to break down the barriers of access for those who might not otherwise have the opportunity to experience life changing music programs such as individuals with special needs, financial limitations, emotional adversity or have been displaced or incarcerated."
ACS’s At-Risk and Foster Youth Music Outreach Programs primary goal is to provide music education and movement opportunities that foster hope and joy to youth in under-served communities, by partnering with a variety of community organizations. The program provides:
- sustained music instruction of one hour per week to encourage true mastery with the hope that youth will continue music instruction throughout their lifetime;
- instruments for under-resourced youth for use at home to encourage practice and family participation;
- emotional healing through music exploration that reduces the impact of childhood trauma; and
- needs-based scholarships for youth to pursue individual instruction at the ACS Studio if so desired.
For more information on other projects included in the NEA’s grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.
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