Performance Details
Department of Education and Early Development - Alaska State Council on the Arts
Mission
The Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA) represents, supports, and advances the creative endeavors of individuals, organizations, and agencies throughout Alaska.
Core Services
- Provide support to enable Alaskan citizens to participate in the arts.
- Provide support to enable Alaskan students to receive arts education.
Mission Results |
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Performance Detail
A: Result -Build vibrant communities through the arts. |
A1: Core Service - Provide support to enable Alaskan citizens to participate in the arts. |
Target #1: Increase citizen participation in arts experiences and programs that are funded by the Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA) grants and direct services..
Prior to the COVID-19 health pandemic, arts organizations were exploring new ways to adapt their programming to be more experiential and participatory to engage audiences in new ways. The COVID-19 health pandemic accelerated this adaptation and arts organizations and artists shifted to virtual and online methods to engage their communities in new and meaningful ways. For ASCA, although the numbers reached are lower, FY2020-FY2023 has proven to be a time of effectively reaching organizations and individuals not previously known to ASCA due to the ability to convene virtually. ASCA has worked to ensure grant dollars are distributed throughout the state. As a result, citizens are served by ASCA"s grant investments in schools and arts organizations in each region of the state. ASCA is aware of the challenge for organizations across the state and nationally who are dealing with a new environment for arts participation. Today, any person with an internet connection can instantly participate in or view a multitude of cultural offerings, a remarkable effort in just a few months after the arts sector was severely impacted by the COVID-19 health pandemic. However, access is unequal across the state, especially in rural areas and among culturally diverse groups. ASCA is in Year 2 of a three-year review of equitable access across all policies, programs and grantmaking to reach more Alaskans. This discovery work in partnership with First Alaskans Institute will be woven into the next strategic plan for 2024-2029. In FY2023, ASCA held a Statewide Arts and Culture Convening in Anchorage and the Governor`s Awards for the Arts and Humanities which allowed participants to engage in-person for the first time since 2019. During June — July 2023, 28,209 individuals participated in the Alaska Artistic License Plate online public voting process to select the most popular new license plate, a fireweed design by Sabrina Kessakorn of Anchorage. Related links: Target Last Modified: 11/16/2023 |
Target #2: Increase ASCA professional development opportunities for educators, artists and arts professionals..
ASCA convenes a biennial statewide arts conference, which is why the numbers served with professional development are higher in fiscal years 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2019. Before the pandemic, ASCA"s statewide conference was held in FY2019 (September 2018) in Fairbanks, Alaska. In May 2023, 139 individuals from across Alaska gathered in Anchorage. Attendees included individual artists, educators, cultural workers, volunteers and other stakeholders in the Alaska Arts and Culture sector. This was the first statewide arts and culture conference in four years and was a positive experience in many ways. For ASCA staff and trustees, the experience was also an important renewal of commitment to convening and puts ASCA back on a cycle of holding a biennial, statewide gathering. Along with the main “Reconnect, Refresh, Renew” conference offerings, a group of Alaska Native Creative Leaders and Arts Education Leaders gathered for pre-conference meetings, supported by private foundation funders. This was also the first conference to be combined with the Governor`s Arts and Humanities Awards and an Alaska Native Arts Market. According to the post-conference survey, 79% of respondents said that they found the conference very or extremely useful. 89% of respondents replied that they agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “I found value in attending this year"s conference.” 73% of conference survey respondents were new to the Biennial Alaska Statewide Arts and Culture Conference. In FY2024, ASCA will return to offering robust professional development workshop opportunities that help participants develop income sources and serve their communities more effectively. This approach maximizes ASCA"s resources for strengthening the arts throughout the state. Since FY2020, ASCA has been unable to provide many of these services because of the loss of staff and the lengthy re-hiring process during the pandemic on the heels of the agency shutdown. In FY2015, ASCA partnered with The CIRI Foundation (TCF), the nonprofit arm of the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, to research and develop a professional business development workbook for Alaska Native artists. In addition to resources such as business development, writing an artist statement and resume, the workbook offers specific guidelines for using traditional Native materials in artwork that is sold in the marketplace. This digital workbook is available on ASCA"s website. In FY2016, ASCA and TCF partnered to fund and form a unique pilot program, ArtShops. Designed to ASCA"s Native Leadership cohort recommendations, the ArtShops program invested directly in ASCA"s Alaska Native Arts Leadership, professional development and underwrote community capacity building through the delivery of art-making opportunities to four rural Alaska communities. This programming, partnership, and grant making was still active in FY2022. Artists were invited to submit proposals to develop, organize, and implement an art-making workshop within their home community. Since 2016, 30 proposals were awarded funding through an adjudicated process to support Leader cohort honoraria and art workshop materials. Support for this project was made possible through ASCA"s National Endowment for the Arts Folk and Traditional Arts Infrastructure Grant and TCF"s, A Journey to What Matters: Increased Alaska Native Art & Culture grant program. In FY2021, the Alaska Native Heritage Center began to administer the ArtShops program as a new partner with ASCA and TCF as it was originally intended to be led by an indigenous organization. FY2024 is the final year of the ArtShops program and federal and private funding expires. Related links: Target Last Modified: 11/16/2023 |
B: Result -Strengthen access to arts education. |
Target #1: Provide students opportunities to receive arts education as a result of strong grant investments from state, federal, and partner funding for arts education..
The Munartet Project in Kodiak (Munartet is an Alutiiq language word which means artists) continued forward with the focus of building a pipeline of support for pre-service and early career teachers in Kodiak; the project completed its 7th year of implementation and began its 8th year of the project on February 1, 2023. Despite the impacts of the COVID-19 health pandemic and other challenges, the project continues to progress toward its overall purpose of building confidence and competence of teachers to teach in and through the arts and cultures in Kodiak. Recruitment and retention of pre-service and early career teachers through the project continues, and the Munartet Learning Community includes active membership of core cohort members, mentor teachers and administrators, strategy keepers, teaching artists, culture bearers, elders and affiliate teachers and organizations across Kodiak Island Borough School District. Interested parties can learn more about the model and the resources developed over the life of the Munartet Project by visiting the Munartet Project website, which hosts the 5-year report on the project model. In FY2023, Rasmuson Foundation awarded two-years of support to ASCA in the amount of $1.5 million through December 31, 2024. The award is to support programs such as the Arts in Education fund for Artists in Schools and Cultural Collaborations grants, the Youth Cultural Heritage program, and Harper Arts Touring fund grants. This public/private partnership, which began in 2004, is providing access to the arts with significant focus on serving children and youth in Alaska. In FY2023, demand for these programs increased from previous years, as public health conditions have allowed. The Youth Cultural Heritage (YCH) Program grew and included Fast Track, Alumni, Project and Fellowship Grants in FY2023. For the first time, the larger Youth Cultural Heritage Project grants were available as an open application process, and response was robust. This program is designed to support organizations and groups that deliver cultural heritage programming to children and youth in Alaska. Youth Cultural Heritage also includes a Fellowship program. Fellows receive a grant and services from the program coordinators to learn, explore and discuss youth cultural heritage ideas, project development, grant writing and program evaluation. Fellows connect with each other as a cohort, meet YCH Alumni, and develop proposals for YCH Projects in Alaskan communities. The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies published an article on the Youth Cultural Heritage Program as a highlight in its newsletter to members across the country in FY2023. Related links: Target Last Modified: 11/17/2023 |
B1: Core Service - Provide support to enable Alaskan students to receive arts education. |
Target #1: Increase the number of students served through ASCA arts education grants and programs and increase the quality of arts education through the provision of arts education professional development for teachers..
As part of its support to the field in FY2020-FY2022, and continuing into FY2023, the Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA) has received pass-through flexibility from federal and other funding partners to support adaptation and innovation of grant applicants and partners in the field of arts education. As reporting catches up with the grants serving Alaska students, families and communities through ASCA`s grant programs, examples of grantee and partner innovations include serving students, families and educators through online/virtual delivery of programs and services. Grant guidelines and technical support included information and consultation about adaptive approaches to service delivery. Where appropriate, ASCA grantees are provided with extensions of activity periods. In FY2023, Alaska`s Poetry Out Loud Competition program returned to in-person State Competition, in Juneau. Ten State Finalists from across Alaska, who had participated at the Regional, School and/or Classroom competitions for Poetry Out Loud convened for coaching, civic engagement and competition in the State Capital City in March 2023. West Anchorage High School student Brigitta Ta`aga represented Alaska at the National Poetry Out Loud Competition in Washington D.C. in spring of 2023. Poetry Out Loud is a national arts education program that encourages the study of great poetry by offering free educational materials and a dynamic recitation competition for high school students across the country. This program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life. In Alaska, Poetry Out Loud is conducted as a partnership of the ASCA, Juneau Arts & Humanities Council, and other organizations. In FY2023, a partnership between ASCA, the Department of Education and Early Development (DEED), and the Alaska Arts Education Consortium (AAEC) as managing partner started its planning for an Arts Education Data Project. The AAEC and consortium partners believe that arts and culturally responsive teaching practices are essential for all Alaskan students. This belief, coupled with sparse data and the lack of a statewide coordinated arts education plan, led AAEC to propose this project to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), along with DEED and the ASCA. This statewide data project will help communities understand how students do, or do not, have access to learning in and through the arts. NEA federal funds were awarded to AAEC, matched by the ASCA, and the planning phase of the project continues through December 2023. Related links: Target Last Modified: 11/17/2023 |
Last refreshed: 04/24/2024 05:00 pm