Artists in the Schools Program (AITS)



Public and public charter schools receiving Artists in the Schools funding for SY2011-12 will soon receive their award notification. Applications for SY2012-13 will be available in early spring 2012. At that time, schools may apply for arts grants of up to $6,000 per school.



The Artists in the Schools Program is under the jurisdiction of the Hawai`i State Foundation on Culture and the Arts (HSFCA) with implementation support provided by Hawai`i Arts Alliance. Arts education is a top priority in the HSFCA Strategic Plan: “To increase opportunities for arts education and experiences, especially for pre-K-12 grade level students.” The AITS Program provides an integrated approach to implementing the Fine Arts standards through residencies with qualified teaching artists from the Artistic Teaching Partners Roster. Many of these artists have been trained to integrate their art form with other core curriculum areas, such as language arts, math, social studies, and science, meeting both Fine Arts and other core standards.

Schools funded with AITS grant money must comply with the AITS program requirements -

• The grant application is developed with an approved teaching artist from the Artistic Teaching Partners (ATP) Roster. Teaching_Artist_Roster_feb2011.pdf

• Learning experiences support Hawai`i Department of Education’s Content and Performance Standards III, Fine Arts Standards.

• A residency with an Artistic Teaching Partner engages a core group of students for eight or more sessions for elementary schools OR five or more sessions for secondary schools (core group = same group of students for all lessons). Each session is a minimum of 30 minutes for lower elementary, and 45 minutes for upper elementary and above. Applications proposing fewer than the recommended sessions will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

• Teachers are expected to work with the Artistic Teaching Partner to build capacity at the school. Professional development for teachers, led by the teaching artist, is expected as part of the residency.




Interested public and public charter schools that wish to apply for AITS Grants for the 2012-13 school year should check this site in March 2012 when information will be available -

2012-13 AITS Grant Application Information:
2012-13 AITS Grant Application Form:
2012-13 AITS Grant Application Budget Form:
2012-13 Artistic Teaching Partners Roster: