Everyday Arts Awarded $19,000 California Arts Council Artists in Schools Grant

LOS ANGELES - May 11, 2020 - PRLog -- iPERFORM (Putting Emotional Resources First - Our Resiliency Matters) is an unprecedented partnership between Everyday Arts, an organization dedicated to facilitating social-emotional learning for students through arts integration, and iLEAD Empower Generations, a free public charter school that specializes in helping pregnant and parenting teens achieve their high school diploma.

Using techniques of devised theater and playbuilding, Everyday Arts teaching artists will assist students in developing a performance that centers student-generated themes inside of a social justice lens. Students will investigate the issues most relevant to their own lived experiences through ongoing engagement in creative writing, dance, movement, music, drama, and the creation and performance of an original work of theater.

Additionally, Everyday Arts will conduct professional development for Empower Generations staff, providing training in the tools used in the iPERFORM space in order to encourage continuity and sustainability of programming after the residency concludes. These workshops will utilize a hands-on approach to understanding and creating differentiated and inclusive instructional practices rooted in a culturally responsive framework.

"The social and emotional challenges of pregnancy and parenting are manifold, particularly for students in their teenage years. We believe passionately in using the tremendous healing power of the arts to create a space in which students can engage in social-emotional learning together," said Noemy Hernandez, Executive Director of Everyday Arts. "We are thrilled that the California Arts Council shares our dedication to the wellbeing of students in our community. Pregnant and parenting teens' experiences of the world necessitate an envisioning of the future, and those visions deserve to have a platform to amplify their artistry: to themselves, to their community, and to the multiple generations of family of which they are an ever-growing part."

Everyday Arts was featured as part of a larger announcement from the California Arts Council of more than 1,500 grants awarded to nonprofit organizations and units of government throughout the state. The investment of nearly $30 million marks a more than $5 million increase over the previous fiscal year, and the largest in California Arts Council history.

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Fiscally sponsored by the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Institute for Education, Research, and Scholarships (https://www.ifers.org), Everyday Arts (https://www.everydayarts.org) provides engaging professional development to educators and families of students with diverse learning needs. Their research-based methodology fosters social-emotional learning and academic proficiency through fun and inclusive arts integration.

The California Arts Council is a state agency with a mission of strengthening arts, culture, and creative expression as the tools to cultivate a better California for all. It supports local arts infrastructure and programming statewide through grants, initiatives, and services.