We’re Proud To Announce Our First Round Of Catalyst Grant Partners!
Arts Access Catalyst Grant
Arts Access Miami aims to bring the transformational power of arts and music education to all youth. At The Miami Foundation, our goal is to build a Greater Miami where everyone can thrive, and we know that access to arts is vital to achieving that vision. When young people are able to engage in and connect with the arts, their ability to problem solve, open their minds to new ideas, and find meaning and purpose grows.
The Catalyst Grant is a grant program that aims to close gaps in arts education across our region, as highlighted from data in artlook® Miami. Through this grant, we want to foster stronger arts partnerships within the Miami-Dade County Public Schools ecosystem.
Catalyst Grants are multi-year grants (up to $20,000 distributed over two years) for arts education programs, initiatives, and organizations in Miami-Dade. Grant funds are intended to address opportunities for strengthened arts partnerships between nonprofit organizations and Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
In addition to the grant funds, The Miami Foundation works closely with each selected grant partner throughout the two-year period to provide capacity-building and opportunities for network-building, collaboration, and learning.
Mission: “Our mission is to strengthen communities – particularly those that are underserved and historically disadvantaged – by investing in people through literary and performing arts. We aim to make art accessible, entertaining, informative and inspirational.”
School Partners: Norland High School and iPrep Academy North
Funding Plans: Facilitate professional development opportunities by providing arts integration strategies and curricular enhancements. Students will have access to instruction in creative writing, poetry, drama, improvisation, and literacy.
Mission: “The Mission of Arts Ballet Theatre is to create, for the enjoyment of the community, professional ballet productions.”
School Partners: Ojus Elementary School, David Lawrence Jr. K-8
Center, and Ruth K. Broad Bay Harbor K-8 Center
Funding Plans: Expand and enhance the “Arts Ballet Goes to School” program and professional development for program instructors.
Mission: “Cultivating an artistically conscious community, through innovative and accessible performances that celebrate humanity and the power of storytelling.”
School Partners: Dr. Michael Krop Senior High School
Funding Plans: Provide students with training in acting technique, dance, vocals and health and wellness. Workshops and one-on-one instruction with industry professionals will conclude with a final musical theater performance.
Mission: “Diva Arts Dance Studio’s mission is to provide a wide range of classes and quality training for children interested in commercial, concert, competition or recreational dance. We strive to provide a fun, safe environment for the clients we serve.”
School Partners: Norland Elementary School, Norland Middle School, and Miami Carol City Senior High School
Funding Plans: Provide full and partial scholarships to aspiring dancers.
Mission: “Gamebred Youth & Families aims to empower at-risk youth by using a multidisciplinary approach that targets three major areas of social development; personal development, health and wellness and community engagement.”
School Partners: Ojus Elementary School, David Lawrence Jr. K-8 Center, and Ruth K. Broad Bay Harbor K-8 Center
Funding Plans: Expand and enhance the “Arts Ballet Goes to School” program and professional development for program instructors.
Mission: “HOPE Murals is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides adolescent youth with an interactive experience of creative expression via an urban arts platform that stimulates both mental and physical development.”
School Partners: Juvenile Justice Center School
Funding Plans: Deliver an Arts Based Youth Development program for young people who are incarcerated. The program’s focus will immerse students in a creative artistic process that develops new skills, attitudes, and ways of thinking about themselves.
Mission: “The work of Karen Peterson and Dancers (KPD), founded in 1990 as a non-profit arts organization, is based on the belief that through dance, we can better understand our common humanity by exploring and appreciating this impulse to move.”
School Partners: Cutler Bay Middle School and South Ridge Senior High School
Funding Plans: Provide students who have a physical, emotional, learning, or developmental disability with dance workshops, field trips, and dance performances.
Mission: “Miamibloco is a cultural 501(c)(3) nonprofit celebrating Samba and Afro-diasporic cultures in Miami through Brazilian group-style (bloco) percussion education, and performances focused on cultural exchange.”
School Partners: Five (5) partner schools in Miami-Dade County
Funding Plans: Enhance the MiamiBlocoKids program, in partnership with Armour Dance Theatre. The program fosters participation in the Brazilian group-style (bloco) as a creative movement.
Mission: “The Pinecrest City Music Project aims to provide students with the musical knowledge to thrive in their music education journey through group-based instruction and hands-on learning initiatives while instilling the core values of the musical arts and its positive influences on local communities.”
School Partners: Southwood Middle School
Funding Plans: Increase art education instruction and staffing by integrating music education with personal and community development.
Mission: “Our mission is to give visibility and recognize the work of artists and cultural producers to professionalize their activities, while we build an identity, autonomy and participation in social, economic and human development.”
School Partners: Hialeah Gardens Middle School and Lawton Chiles Middle School
Funding Plans: Expand arts education workshops for students through bilingual workshops, interactive arts classes, and professional development for teachers.
Mission: “The mission of the South Florida Chamber Ensemble is to harness the power of music and other arts for education, mental health and wellbeing.”
School Partners: North Hialeah Elementary and Frederick Douglass Elementary
Funding Plans: Provide bilingual arts education while encouraging students to cycle through various art forms such as costume design, musical composition, choreography, and video production.
Mission: “Cultivating an artistically conscious community, through innovative and accessible performances that celebrate humanity and the power of storytelling.”
School Partners: South Ridge Senior High School
Funding Plans: Implement the Art as Healing Program which includes a combination of art therapy techniques, music and movement building, and peer support network development.
Focus Areas
We want to prioritize real-time needs in arts access that have been identified through our artlook® Miami data. For this grant cycle, we will prioritize organizations focused on:
- Artist residencies & professional development | Our artlook data reveals that there is a need for more partnerships that provide artist residencies and arts education-centered professional development for teachers.
- Dance & Theatre | While there is more access to visual arts and music, there is less access to dance and theatre.
- School Needs | artlook® Miami works with schools to collect data about needs for arts education partnerships and programs. We will welcome applications that reference a discovery from the artlook Miami data that is not highlighted above that has informed their proposed programming.
(NOTE: While organizations may not have the time to analyze the artlook data, we encourage applicants to focus on how their project addresses a clear need within M-DCPS. If you would like guidance on how to align your proposal to identified needs in a meaningful way, please attend one of our upcoming webinars.)