The Arts in Academics Grants, established by retired Rhode Island art educator Karel Greenblatt Gertsacov in 2004, aim to support educational projects that effectively integrate arts into other core academic subjects. These grants are designed to foster collaborations between artists and educators, promoting the arts as a fundamental part of the learning process rather than supporting passive participation such as performances. Projects focused solely on literacy are generally not funded unless they are exceptionally creative and combine other academic subjects.

Grant amounts range from $500 to $1,000, and eligible applicants include K-12 public school teachers (including those from public charter schools), artists, and nonprofit organizations in Rhode Island. The grants support activities like collaboration between artists and educators, field trips that serve an academic purpose, and professional training for teachers to enhance their ability to incorporate arts into academic teaching.

Examples of potential projects include:

Collaboration: An architect working with a math teacher to help students learn about scale through hands-on building projects.
Field trips: A trip to the zoo to study symmetrical patterns as part of a mathematics lesson.
Professional development: A teacher attending a workshop to improve their ability to integrate arts literacy into other subjects.
Grant funds may be used for stipends, materials, equipment, honorariums, and other related expenses. The project must occur between January and December 2025, and an evaluation report is required upon its completion.

Proposals will be reviewed based on several criteria, including the level of arts integration, the project's creativity and practicality, its educational value, the number of students impacted, and access to other funding sources. The application deadline is October 28, 2024, by 3:00 p.m. EST.