PICTURING AMERICA SCHOOL COLLABORATION PROJECTS

Description: Building on the national distribution of Picturing America, the National Endowment for the Humanities invites proposals for local and regional projects that foster collaboration between K-12 teachers and humanities scholars to encourage engagement with the rich resources of American art to tell America's story. Picturing America School Collaboration Projects grants are designed to help teachers incorporate Picturing America images into the teaching of core subjects. This grant program requires awardees to plan and implement conferences that will help K-12 teachers incorporate the Picturing America portfolio into their lesson plans.

Picturing America is an NEH initiative that brings masterpieces of American art into classrooms and libraries nationwide. The images in Picturing America reflect a variety of media spanning several centuries. These images will help students better understand America's diverse people and places and connect them to America's travails and triumphs. This history is reflected in the themes of Picturing America: Leadership, Freedom and Equality, Democracy, Courage, Landscape, and Creativity and Ingenuity.

The goals of the Picturing America School Collaboration Projects grants are:

• Strengthen understanding of the connections between great works of American art and significant events, themes and topics in the American experience.
• Encourage local and regional collaboration between K-12 teachers and humanities experts who can bring appropriate knowledge to the integration of American artworks in core subjects.
• Foster discussion of how to use Picturing America images among K-12 teachers within a locality or region.
• Provide access to rich scholarly resources and primary materials that support teaching.

In order to provide a forum for exploring and deepening students' understanding of art, American history, government, social studies, literature, language arts, civics and other core subjects, funded projects should:

• Support one or more conferences of one or two days each.
• Accommodate at each conference 30 to 100 (or more) participants, all of whom already have access to the Picturing America portfolio.
• Provide opportunities for teachers to engage with scholars, museum and library professionals and other experts.

Successful proposals for local and regional projects will present a conference schedule of plenary and concurrent sessions in engaging formats that provide opportunities for participants to:

• Observe or demonstrate models for teaching American art, history and culture with the Picturing America portfolio and accompanying Teachers Resource Book.
• Explore the curricular value of Picturing America for core subjects (for example, using images in the teaching of history or literature as a powerful investigative tool, a stimulus to Socratic inquiry or a resource to improve student writing).

Successful applicants will provide plans for post-conference support for participants, including listservs, e-newsletters and mentoring. Proposals to provide opportunities for teachers with limited access to professional development in the humanities are encouraged.

Applications will be evaluated by their intellectual quality, significance, design, feasibility and impact.

Fit for public broadcasting: Public broadcasting stations have expertise in education, as well as in promoting understanding and appreciation of the humanities. This grant program provides a great opportunity to combine both of these capabilities. While local stations are eligible to apply for this grant, the requirements of the program state that grantees work closely with institutions that have received the Picturing America portfolio. To find out which schools have received the portfolio, consult this map.

Unlike some other NEH programs, the Picturing America School Collaboration Project is designed to support local and regional efforts. While most stations will be able to help develop educational resources with a humanities perspective, stations that have relationships with institutions of higher education may also be able to provide necessary connections to humanities scholars. Additionally, every applicant must demonstrate how the proposed conference will have a long-lasting effect; public broadcasting stations may be able to help create multimedia resources that can be distributed or available online to many local K-12 teachers.

Eligibility: Any U.S. nonprofit organization with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status is eligible to apply, as are state and local governmental agencies and tribal governments.

Anticipated funding: Picturing America School Collaboration Projects can receive up to $75,000 in outright funds for projects involving one or more conferences. The grant period may run between 12 and 18 months. When two or more institutions or organizations collaborate on an application, one of them must serve as the lead applicant and administer the project on behalf of all participating units. Cost sharing is not required in this program.

How to apply: Prior to submitting a proposal, applicants are encouraged to contact program officers who can offer advice about preparing the proposal and review draft proposals. Program staff recommends that draft proposals be submitted at least six weeks before the deadline.

Applications must be submitted electronically on Grants.gov.

Resources:
Program notice
NEH Division of Education website
Picturing America website
Find which schools in your area have received the Picturing America portfolio
Sample Narrative: Appalachian State University
Sample Narrative: Newberry Library
Sample Narrative: Primary Source
Sample Narrative: University of New Mexico