ASC School Funding opportunities

2017-2018 Manual

ASC School Funding Opportunities is a partnership between the

Arts & Science Council and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

Table of Contents

2017-2018 Calendar

About ASC

ASC School Funding Opportunities (SFO)

Program Overview & Funding Allocations

Education Provider Directory

Glossary of Terms

School Arts & Science Cultural Arts Representatives (ASCAR)

Step-By-Step Guide for Arts & Science Cultural Arts Representatives (ASCARs)

Additional Steps/Requirements Specific to Residencies

Helpful Scheduling Information

Frequently Asked Questions

ASC School Funding Opportunities Contact Information

Other ASC Educational Programs

CMS Special Opportunity Grant

Cato Excellence in Teaching Awards

North Carolina Wolf Trap

Out-of-School Programming

Studio 345

2017-2018 Calendar

August 26, 2017
9:00 am – 2:00 pm / ASC Cultural Education Expo & Provider Showcase at the Harris Conference Center. A representative from your school MUST attend at least part of the day in order to maintain funding eligibility.
August 26, 2017 / Two full training sessions on the funding process will be held during the Expo. All ASCARs are required to attend ONE full session in order to maintain your school’s funding eligibility. If you are unable to attend either session, you will need to attend a training at a later date.
September 26, 2017
5:00 pm / DUE: ASC School Funding Opportunity Spending Plans (online).
Available at:
September 29, 2017
5:00 pm / DUE: ASC School Funding Opportunities (SFO) Contracts for Programs occurring in October (via email).
October 2, 2017 / SFO-funded programs can begin as long as the ASC Education School Funding Opportunities Contract has been signed by all parties and cleared by the ASC Education Department.
October 27, 2017
5:00 pm / DUE: ASC School Funding Opportunities Contracts for Programs occurring November – May (via email).
Failure to meet any of the SFO requirements (attendance at training AND Cultural Education Expo; ASC Spending Plan and contracts submitted by deadlines) will result in loss of funding eligibility for this school year.
December 1, 2017 / ASC will send invoices to schools that spent more than their SFO allotment. Any overages incurred after this point will be invoiced as they occur.
May 1, 2018 / DUE: Any Funding overages owed to ASC by the schools.
May 25, 2018 / SFO-funded programs must end and all Provider Evaluation Forms should have been submitted by this time. Failure to submit forms will negatively impact your eligibility to receive funds for the 2018-2019 school year. Link available at:

About ASC

ASC is:

  • The community’s chief advocate for Arts, Science, History, & Heritage
  • A gatherer and steward of public and private community resources
  • An investor of those resources in the cultural sector and community
  • The strategic planner for the community’s cultural sector
  • The public art agent for the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County

Mission:Ensuring access to an excellent, relevant, and sustainable cultural community for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Region

Vision:Shaping a vibrant cultural life for all

ASC was founded in 1958 to run a consolidated United Arts Fund (UAF) drive and serve as a clearinghouse for cultural events. Today, with the generous support of individual and corporate donors, ASC has raised over $11.2 million through its Annual Fund Drive. Coupled with public support from the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina Arts Council, a state agency, and various Mecklenburg Towns, ASC has granted over $14 million to support artists, Arts and Cultural Education, neighborhood cultural projects, and over 30 Arts, Science, History, and Heritage organizations.

ASC is one of the few non-profits in the U.S. that is both a UAF and a Local Arts Agency (LAA). Its work as a local arts agency includes grant making, managing the public art program for the City and the County, developing cultural action plans to address issues from facility development and arts education to access and providing services to support artists and organizations.

Throughout its nearly 60-year history, and through public and private partnerships, ASC has led the growth of arts and culture in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area, helping it become a vibrant community that enhances the quality of life for residents, attracts businesses, and fuels economic development.

To view a complete history of ASC, visit our website at artsandscience.org.

As the community’s chief advocate, strategic planner, investor and public art agentfor arts and culture and designed “Office of Cultural Resources” by the city of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and the six suburban towns, we work to ensure Culture For All by combining public and private resources to maximize impact for the cultural community.

We work every day to ensureaccess to an excellent, relevant, and sustainable cultural community for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Region.

ASC School Funding Opportunities (SFO)

Welcome to the 2017-2018 cycle of ASC School Funding Opportunities, a partnership program of ASC, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District (CMS), and your school. This program was started in the 2012-2013 school year in an attempt toprovide greater opportunities for schools to select the type of cultural programming to suit their individual needs. Since the program began, over 600,000 students experienced 1700 exciting programs through funds amounting to over $1,200,000!

Program Overview & Funding Allocations

ASC School Funding Opportunities are meant to support the placement of professional artists, scientists, historians, and other cultural providers in Grades PreK-12 (public and independent schools). These partnerships provide for curriculum-based residencies, workshops, day trips, assemblies/performances, after school experiences, and/or professional development for teachers. Programs may either use Cultural Educators working on-site in the school setting and/or day trips to cultural institutions for performances or exhibitions. Programs may occur during the regular school day or after school. Programs will:

  • Be curriculum-based and grade-level appropriate.
  • Have pre- and/or post-experience curriculum-based teacher guides.
  • Be designed to maximize student learning, such as use of the lecture/demonstration format (i.e., Cultural Educator provides background, direct alignment to goals & purposes of performance or visit, and explains connections and context for performance either through pre-performance comments, and/or interactive question & answer sessions at conclusion of performance.).
  • Be aligned with Common Core and the NC Essential Standards.
  • Be classified as either Exposure programming or Immersion programming.
  • Be based on voluntary participation.
  • Provide relevant professional development for teachers and principals if outlined by the Provider or determined by the school.
  • Run between Oct. 2, 2017 and May 25, 2018.

All accredited schools (CMS, private, charter) within Mecklenburg County will be eligible for up to a specific amount of funding, contingent on availability. Once all contracts are in, any unused funding will become available to high needs schools on a first-come, first-served basis.

During the 2016-2017 school year, the fifth year the School Grants Program existed, ASC performed an evaluation and overhaul of the program’s structure, goals, and outcomes. With recommendations from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Opportunity Task Force, we identified some specific needs, or “buckets,” on which to focus our resources. Those buckets are as follows:

The bucket of Teacher Professional Development is all-encompassing as there is nothing that makes a stronger impact on the other four goals than high-quality educators.

It was noted that our Wolf Trap program does a great job of tackling the Pre-K Readiness bucket and our Studio 345 program impacts the High School Graduation rate. Also, with our establishment of a Teacher Professional Development Scholarship through the Cato Endowment for Teacher Professional Development, we are helping to provide funds for quality PD. Our School Grants program was therefore perfectly positioned to focus primarily (but not exclusively) on the 3rd Grade Reading and Middle School Transition buckets.

Once the buckets were identified, we also set four goals for improvement we hope to accomplish over the next few years:

  • Narrow the Opportunity Gap
/
  • Increase Quality of Programming

  • Align with Community Issues
/
  • Increase Funding Return on Investment (ROI)

To kick off the new way of doing things, we changed the name from “Education School Grants Program” to “School Funding Opportunities” to better reflect the new process. Over the course of the next three years, we will implement a change in the way funds are allotted to schools and the way Providers are evaluated and promoted. Below is the proposed trajectory for implementation of the new process:

2017-2018 / 2018-2019 / 2019-2020
High Schools can apply for up to $1,600 of funding without restriction.
Elem/Mid Schools can first apply for up to $1,100 of Exposure Fundingwithout restriction.
Elem/Mid Schools can then apply for an additional up to $900 of Immersion Fundingfor 3-5 day residencies.(2-day residencies may also be acceptable depending on the situation.)
**Schools that have a combination of grades (K-12, 6-12, etc.) will need to decide whether to utilize HS funding OR Elem/Mid School funding. / High Schools can apply for funding without restriction.
Elem/Mid Schools can first apply for Exposure Fundingwithout restriction.
Elem/Mid Schools can then apply for an additional amount of Immersion Fundingfor 3-5 day residencies.
Note: Actual amounts TBD, based on available funds. / High Schools can apply for funding without restriction.
Elem/Mid Schools can first apply for Immersion Fundingfor 3-5 day residencies.
Elem/Mid Schools can then apply for an additional amount of Exposure Fundingwithout restriction.
Note: Actual amounts TBD, based on available funds.

*Exposure Funding– Experiences in which students get a taste of arts, science, history, and/or heritage through assemblies, performances, workshops, and field trips.

*ImmersionFunding– Experiences in which students gain a deeper understanding of arts, science, history, and/or heritage through sustained learning over time through residencies. These experiences address and directly align with at least one of the identified community issues (Pre-K Readiness, 3rd Grade Reading, Middle School Transition, High School Graduation Rate).

Within the next 3 years, schools will be required to align at least some of their program choices with the identified buckets. For example, an Elementary school might choose a residency for 2nd graders that works toward the goal of improving 3rd grade reading.

As always, schools may only “spend” this Funding on Providers and/or programs within the ASC Education Provider Directory. Schools may choose to spend their entire allotment on a single program or purchase several programs from within the Education Provider Directory. CMS Schools may also choose to “spend” their funding on transportation related to day trips listed within the Directory. CMS Schools that choose to utilize funding for transportation costs should follow Step #10 on page 10 of this manual.

Schools will not receive a check for the allotted SFO amount. Instead, the Arts & Science Cultural Arts Representative(ASCAR) at each school will complete the required paperwork (see samples within this manual) to contract Providers from the ASC Education Provider Directory.

Individual schools through their ASCAR will submit their ASC School Funding Opportunity Spending Plan online by Sept. 26, 2017. There will be one Spending Plan for High Schools and one for Elementary/Middle Schools. Schools, PTA/PTSA/PTO/PTSOs, parents, or other organizations will be responsible for any fees that exceed ASC’s allocation. ASC will send the school an invoice for the additional fees by Friday, Dec. 1, 2017 (or at any point that the school exceeds the funding allocation). The school will pay these directly to ASC and ASC will in turn pay the Provider directly for the total amount of the program.

Education Provider Directory

The 2017-2018 Education Provider Directory is an online resource consisting of approved Arts, Science, History, and Heritage educational providers. Schools utilizing ASC funds can only use individuals, groups, and organizations listed within the Education Provider Directory.

The directory can be accessed at

Providers are selected for the Education Provider Directory through a rigorous panel process. Throughout the year, ASC will be conducting evaluations of the programming. We also ask the Providers to evaluate their experience with your school and for you to evaluate your experience with each Provider you have hired. If there are any issues with particular Provider(s), we want to know your concerns immediately. Additionally, if your school knows someone who is currently not listed in our Education Provider Directory or if there is a type of programming you would like us to include, please let us know! The ASC Education Team will begin accepting new applicants for the 2018-2019 school year in January 2018.

Beginning this year, we will be requiring Providers in the Directory to participate in professional development to build their skills in residency development, understanding and implementation of the standards, and other such abilities that will help them to continue to provide the highest level of programming possible. We will begin to create a listing of “Gold Star” Providers who have participated in these workshops and are therefore highly recommended. The first of these lists will be ready next school year.

The online Education Provider Directory lists contact information and brief notes about the specific programs offered by the Providers such as the targeted subject and grade levels for each program, what type of program it is (residency, workshop, day trip, assembly/performance, after school experience, and/or professional development for teachers), and how the program connects to the Common Core State Standards and North Carolina Essential Standards. You will also findany technical requirements needed for the successful completion of the program, and the current pricing structure & cancellation policy for the program. The Arts & Science Cultural Arts Representative (ASCAR) should verify prices as well as cancellation policies for the Provider when completing the contract.

Glossary of Terms

This section explains how ASC defines a residency, workshop, day trip, assembly/performance, after school experience, and professional development for teachers. This will aid you when perusing the Education Provider Directory to determine the programming needs of your school. We want to ensure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to the types of programs offered.

  • After-School Experience: The program takes place outside of regular school hours. This can be at the School or at the Provider’s location.
  • Assembly/Performance: The Provider is on a stage-like setting and the students are audience members. There may be some participation from the students, but the majority of the program is meant for listening and viewing. This can be for a single class, the entire school, or a portion thereof. This will occur on a single day, unless otherwise specified. Normally results in one (1) contact hour.
  • Day Trip: This program happens off campus and requires school transportation. Students may be visiting a museum or attending a performance in another venue. This typically is a one-day experience.
  • Professional Development for Teachers: This is a workshop or residency experience that is taught by the Provider to a group of teachers and/or school staff. This professional development is meant as a learning opportunity in an art form or subject matter for which the Provider is a specialist. The goals could be for the participants to walk away with a new skill set, a lesson plan, and/or creative ideas to better teach this art form or subject matter to their students.
  • Residency: The Provider visits the same group of students for three or more class periods on different days. The visits may or may not be consecutive. For example, the Provider may come every day for a week or the experience could be spread out such that they come twice a week for seven weeks. If the Provider is doing the residency for more than one class, s/he will often see each class each day s/he is at the school. This results in at least 3 contact hours for each class.
  • Workshop: The Education Provider works with a group of students during one class period or during an extended period in one day. S/he may work with multiple classrooms, but these classes will be seen one after the other on the same day (or different day as delineated by the Provider and school). The difference between a workshop and a residency is the number of contact hours between the Provider and the students. This is less than 3 contact hours per student.

School Arts & Science Cultural Arts Representatives (ASCAR)

The Arts & Science Cultural Arts Representative (ASCAR) is the point person for all communications regarding the ASC School Funding Opportunities with both ASC and the Provider(s) contracted through SFO funding. Having an ASCAR ensures that deadlines are met and Providers are given accurate information prior to arriving at your school.

This manual contains the necessary paperwork and roles in which you have responsibility as your school’s ASCAR. You can designate other members of staff to assist you with these tasks as long as you remain the point person with ASC and the Provider(s). You will find the complete step-by-step guide to your responsibilities in the next section.

With your help, ASC is able to provide enriching cultural experiences for students. Your role as an ASCAR is important to the success of the ASC School Funding Opportunities. Weappreciate yourcommitment to selecting the appropriate aligned cultural experience for your school and to spending valuable time ensuring the selected experience runs smoothly. We hope you will have fun and feel rewarded through your indispensable efforts in supporting the cultural life of your school!