ESD 105 has been awarded a three-year grant totaling $889,618 from the U.S. Department of Education to boost arts education programs in the region’s schools. 

The $889,618 Professional Development for Arts Educators (PDAE) grant will allow for continuation and expansion of visual and musical arts assistance to area schools that ESD 105 provides through its ArtFusion program.  

The new grant is a follow-up to the original $1.04 million PDAE grant that launched the ESD 105 ArtFusion program in 2005. 

The grant will be used to augment art education offerings for students and instruction in the arts for classroom teachers through a partnership of the ESD, school districts, and community organizations. 

Local organizations involved in this effort include Allied Arts of Yakima, Gallery One, Larson Gallery, and the Yakima Symphony Orchestra.  

The goal of the grant is to assist participating schools in helping their students reach grade-level expectations in the state’s Classroom-Based Assessments for the Arts. 

The new grant will also help fund ESD 105’s ongoing professional development programs in arts education for teachers in the region.  The impact of the trainings and offerings funded by the grant will be measured through pre- and post-testing.  

“Receiving this grant is a recognition of the successful arts programs we’ve put in place in our region over the last few years,” said Aurelio Garcia, Regional Arts Education coordinator at ESD 105.  “It represents not only the teachers and thousands of students who have been exposed to the arts as a result of our work, but the new teachers and thousands of more students who are yet to experience the meaningful classroom arts experiences that will come about at as a result of this grant.