2016-452-E Arts - Northside Elem. School - Spring 2016 Arts Grant Agreement

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DocuSign Envelope ID: EAFDD22A-03CF-43DD-BC1A-FC763196B728 Northside Elementary PTA Cultural Arts Committee Spring 2016 Arts in Education Grant Application School Profile In 2013 Northside Elementary School (NES) opened in the Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) district in Orange County. This school was intentionally built in the historic Northside neighborhood, centrally located in downtown Chapel Hill on the same site where three African-American schools existed from 1924-1966. Northside Elementary currently enrolls 485 students, drawing on residents from neighborhoods throughout the town of Chapel Hill and Carrboro. Northside offers classes in Pre-K through 5th Grade including a class for Special Needs and programs in English as a Second Language, Exceptional Children and Gifted Education. NES ranks second in the district for students needing subsidized lunches; therefore many of our families are not able to contribute to fundraising efforts that raise money for PTA programs such as Cultural Enrichment. School's Art Programs We celebrate cultural diversity at Northside and find that students can learn effectively about others through music, art and performance. The Cultural Arts Committee worked with the Carrboro Arts Center this year to bring performances in puppet theater and African American music to our school. In addition, we have an afterschool program called iNavigate which focuses on performance; the club organized and performed the play "Annie"for the first time this year. Another afterschool program is Navigators on the Move which focuses on music and rhythm and community outreach. When relevant and applicable,a grade level may participate in a field trip that focuses on the arts. For example this year the Kindergarten class went to the Carolina Theater in Durham to see a performance of the Princess and the Frog. Every fall Northside hosts an Art and Music Showcase Night where students display their visual art and participate in musical and sometimes dance performances. In addition, teachers and staff often come together to dance and sing during school assemblies. Our Physical Education Coach organizes a Spring Dance Flight where each class learns a different dance from a different time period and culture. NES also hosts an International Navigator Night in the spring where Northside families often demonstrate their native culture through music and dance. All of these programs are important to Northside and require funding or assistance from the PTA. Proposed Uses of Grant Funds The grant funds will enable the PTA and the Cultural Enrichment Committee to offer three cultural art performances to all of the students at Northside. Through the PTA's fundraising efforts,we are currently able to fund two programs: David Gonzalez who through musical storytelling focuses on lessons from Aesops Fables and the Power of Kindness and Bullying and Bright Star Children's Theatre that will also host two age specific shows focusing on African American History through the stories and history of George Washington Carver and Martin Luther King. Funding from the OCAC will allow us to bring the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble to the whole school population at NES as well. All of these programs are very important to Northside Elementary as we continue to understand the African American heritage of this school's neighborhood community, build compassionate relationships within a diverse student body and find inspiration in the Arts as a mode of creative expression and common language that students from different