Phoenix Center for the Arts recently received a $1.2 million grant through the American Rescue Plan Act to help the center and local arts community recover from the financial burden of the pandemic and continue providing new and vital arts education and programming to the Phoenix metropolitan area.
The American Rescue Plan Act provides communities, small businesses and nonprofit organizations with necessary financial relief in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With this new support, the center will re-launch Art in Mind, a program supporting people with Alzheimers, Dementia and Parkinsons with arts and culture programming in addition to supporting their caregivers with arts classes and self-care information and support.
The center’s new mentorship program, BIPOC Arts, will be for teaching artists in the Arts in Mind program and other teaching artist opportunities. The program will work to stabilize the local arts community post-COVID and provide greater access to underrepresented artists and communities in arts and culture programming. Phoenix Center for the Arts will partner with nonprofits that are focused on serving specific backgrounds such as African American, Indigenous, Asian, Hispanic, seniors, people with disabilities and the LGBTQIA+.
According to a news release, Phoenix Center for the Arts is not trying to create a narrative for these communities. Instead, the goal is to work alongside these communities to create teaching opportunities that will continue to support and uplift the arts and culture of Phoenix as a whole.
“We need the insight, engagement and support of these diverse nonprofits and individual artists to create systems for culturally relevant and in-demand artist training and support programs,” said Sandra Bassett, CEO of Phoenix Center for the Arts.
The BIPOC Arts program is designed to provide artists with a valuable, actionable and practical education to learn arts education concepts and pedagogy. The program will offer mentorships with professional teaching artists to give valuable career advice and guidance.
Professional development opportunities will be built into the program such as co-learning opportunities with other artists, as well as their own class to teach at the center and other valley organizations. The program provides artists with an up to six-month weekly curriculum on the history, skills and concepts related to the nascent career of teaching artistry in the US.
Participants attend workshops with each other and learn from a roster of teaching artist facilitators. The curriculum will provide practical examples from the careers of the facilitators, a diversity of learning strategies for students, as well as actionable solutions to common problems in the classroom.
Artists eligible for this program include all artists in the state of Arizona, with priority given to BIPOC in the Phoenix metro area, as well as artists with other underrepresented identities. An application for the program will be required, and 40 participants will be selected by a panel of staff and board members at the Center with transparent selection criteria. A minimum of 65% of BIPOC Arts participants must self-identify as BIPOC or underrepresented. Participants end the program teaching their own classes of 15 or more students.
The center provides arts and culture opportunities for all through education, programming and advocacy. Striving to be the premier provider of arts and cultural experiences that improve, stimulate and unite the communities, the center serves children and adults of all ages in the Phoenix valley region, including arts educators.
Phoenix Center for the Arts’ programs include adult and youth classes in the visual arts, theater, music and dance, as well as engagement activities such as off-site classes and after-school programs. These programs would not be possible without teaching artists, who merge their professional artistry with their skills and heart for educating others.
It is well-documented that the arts improve self-conception, motivation, empathy and tolerance for others, and that they can help “level the playing field” for disadvantaged youth. One of the center's core values is the importance of arts and cultural education for all ages and stages of life. All Arizonans deserve equitable access to resources needed to thrive such as education, employment and the arts.
Phoenix Center for the Arts is a Central Arts Alliance facility located adjacent to Hance Park at 1202 N. Third St. in downtown Phoenix. Central Arts Alliance is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, providing arts and culture opportunities for all through education, programming and advocacy. It has served Phoenix and surrounding areas for 46 years and currently offers more than 300 classes. For more information about the center, visit phoenixcenterforthearts.org.
