On July 15, 2021, Arts for Learning Connecticut was awarded a $60,000 “Responsive General Operating Support Grant” from The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven to support the non-profit for the next two years.
The mission of Arts for Learning Connecticut, the state’s leading provider of arts in education programming, is to inspire young people and expand their learning through the arts. An affiliate of the national Young Audiences network, AFLCT has served students, educators, and communities throughout Connecticut for over 40 years.
The Community Foundation is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the United States and remains the largest grantmaker in a twenty-town region located in the heart of central Connecticut. CFGNH’s mission is to inspire, support, inform, listen to and collaborate with the people and organizations of Greater New Haven to build an ever more connected, inclusive, equitable and philanthropic community.
This GOS grant was one of 72 grants awarded in the 2021 cycle totaling $3.8M; the total amount for the Foundation’s grantmaking this year was almost twice the amount granted last year and is a result of Stepping Forward, The Foundation’s three-year $26M commitment to address COVID impacts and advance racial equity.
The grant will support Arts for Learning Connecticut in expanding arts immersion programming in the region with an increased focus on serving low income and BIPOC communities; expanding its roster of local teaching artists; and growing its new whole-school, deep impact, teaching and learning initiative.
According to John-Michael Parker, Arts for Learning Connecticut’s Executive Director: “This significant contribution from the region’s premier grantmaking institution will provide critical financial support during a very challenging time; moreover, it validates the critical role that our teaching artists and partners play in the community, and will help attract even more resources to our work.”