ArtCenter College Awarded Grant to Introduce Design into K-12 Education

ArtCenter College of Design has received a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). This prestigious grant was awarded in support of educational courses and mentoring for local K-12 grade level teachers to incorporate design in to learning and dynamically engage students. © ArtCenter College of Design/Juan Posada

The ArtCenter College of Design has received a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in support of educational courses and mentoring for local K-12 grade level teachers.

In partnership with the Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) and the Pasadena Educational Foundation (PEF), ArtCenter will provide courses exploring a wide range of design strategies to 18 ArtCenter Design Fellows beginning in Fall of 2022 and continue through 2023.

“This recognition from the NEA is a tremendous endorsement of the power of design in our society and how lessons incorporating design have the potential to open new learning pathways for children as well as expand their minds when it comes to career choices,” said Paula Goodman, Director of K-12 Programs at ArtCenter College of Design ArtCenter Extension (ACX). “We are happy to partner with the amazing teachers throughout Pasadena Unified.”

As ArtCenter Design Fellows, the 18 Pasadena Unified teachers will take ArtCenter Extension’s renowned 10-week Design 360º course. A comprehensive overview of the professional design field, Design 360º will introduce the teachers to a wide variety of design disciplines, from spatial experience design to transportation, and features hands-on exercises for participants to expand their knowledge and skillset.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for our teachers to learn design skills from the phenomenal faculty at ArtCenter College of Design and then apply those new tools to their K-12 classrooms,” said Karen Anderson, Arts & Enrichment Coordinator/GATE Specialist, PUSD. “The ArtCenter Design 360º for Teachers Fellows Program is also an excellent project to build on our strong foundational partnership with ArtCenter which we are deeply committed to continuing long into the future.”

Previously, the Ford Motor Company Fund supported ArtCenter Design 360º for Teachers Fellowship Program, a smaller scale ArtCenter Design Fellows project with PUSD, PEF, and ArtCenter Extension.

ArtCenter has a long history of sharing design theory and practice with educators. For more than 18 years, the College offered the Summer Institute for Teachers in Design-Based Learning to train K-12 educators how to integrate design thinking into their curricula. During that time, program organizers welcomed K-12 teachers, administrators and staff from more than 275 different schools throughout the Southern California region and beyond. The ArtCenter Design Fellows NEA grant project is a natural expansion of the program to serve the K-12 educational community.

Additionally, ArtCenter Design Fellows will meet one on one with ArtCenter faculty to develop lesson plans and innovative curriculum initiatives. Teachers will then implement these lesson plans in their classrooms and work with ArtCenter faculty to refine them as needed.

The ArtCenter/PUSD Design Fellows grant is one of 1,498 awards funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) totaling nearly $33.2 million. Grants for Arts Projects funding spans 15 artistic disciplines and reaches communities in every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.