Area public school teachers, artists, and arts organizations wanting to expand classroom involvement and creative learning may wish to apply for an Arts-in-Education grant through the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation.

By integrating painting, sculpting, theatre, weaving, music, graphic design, or virtually any other creative expression, the Arts-in-Education program is designed to make core classroom curricula, specifically within STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) subjects, more interesting and memorable to the student.  Adding the arts creates STEAM, which helps make the learning experience more dynamic.

For example, a grant previously awarded through the program presented a local chemistry class with the opportunity to experience the art of glassmaking in order to learn about the chemical properties of different materials and objects.

The Community Foundation will consider grants to charitable organizations and schools for programs that include the following elements:

1Collaboration among educators/schools with community arts groups and artists within the k-12 school environment

2Increased integration of arts in core STEM-based disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) to support student advancement and success.

3   Projects integrating the arts with core curricula such as English, social studies, and history will also be considered.

Grants of up to $5,000 will be funded and the deadline for submitting an application is Wednesday, September 12, 2012. All projects are to be completed during the 2012-2013 school year.

Interested applicants may download the Community Foundation’s 2012 Arts-in-Education grant guidelines/application at www.EWVCF.org/grants.html or contact Michael Whalton by phone at (304) 264-0353. Applications may also be submitted using the eGrants on-line application process, also accessible from the Community Foundation website.

The Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation was founded in 1995 to build local, permanent endowment to generate annual charitable grants and scholarships. EWVCF serves Jefferson, Berkeley, and Morgan Counties, with affiliates in Hampshire and Hardy Counties.  Community foundations focus almost entirely on working with local individuals to build local assets to meet local needs. There are currently more than 700 community foundations serving donors across America, with 26 actively building endowments and making grants in West Virginia.

Three endowments held by the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation are positioned for growth thanks to recently announced challenges where a matching gift will double the contributions made to the endowed funds. Community Networks, Inc. (Bethany House) and the Shenandoah Women’s Center have both been named as beneficiaries of a $1,000 challenge grant that will be matched dollar-for-dollar with other donations. These two worthy organizations provide shelter for women and children in Martinsburg and Berkeley County.

The third endowment being supported by a challenge grant is that of the Two Rivers Giving Circle, an organization that supports conservation and preservation causes in Jefferson, Berkeley, and Morgan Counties. This $2,500, five-year grant provides $500 in matching funds for the next five years. Gifts of $50 to $250 will be matched each year, up to a total of $500 annually.

Donors can simply mail the Community Foundation a check made payable to EWVCF. On the memo line write the name of the endowment you want your gift to benefit.  (Community Networks, Inc. Bethany House Fund, Shenandoah Women’s Center Fund, or Two Rivers Giving Circle Fund)

Author, preservationist, and architectural historian John Allen of Shepherdstown was recently recognized by the Two Rivers Giving Circle with the presentation of its 2012 Preservation Award. Allen was cited for his tireless work in the field of historic preservation and was presented with a handcrafted platter made from local clay by award-winning potters Pam and Ren Parziale of Sycamore Pottery in Leetown, WV.

Lisa Welch, one of the coordinators of the Two Rivers Giving Circle acknowledged several of Allen’s accomplishments during a reception held in his honor at the Morgan County home of Charles and Margaret Biggs. “John has done a remarkable job of documenting Jefferson County historic homes and buildings in his groundbreaking book Uncommon Vernacular,” Welch stated. “He also serves on the Jefferson County Historic Landmarks Commission where he is responsible for completing the county-wide survey of historic resources and putting that information on line.”

The Two Rivers Giving Circle operates as a donor-advised fund of the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation and has recognized leaders in the fields of preservation and conservation since its inception in 2008. Perhaps even more important, the Giving Circle is one of the few grantmakers in the region that focuses on these two related fields. Grants totaling more than $28,800 have been awarded to such local charities and organizations as the Morgan County Solid Waste Recycling Center, Potomac Valley Audubon Society, American Conservation Film Festival, Berkeley County Historical Society, and Berkeley Springs High School. The Giving Circle has funded watershed projects, recycling systems, an ecology club, storage systems for historical documents, and many other worthy projects.

Now in its fifth year of conservation and preservation grantmaking, the Giving Circle will be awarding 2012 grants to nonprofit organizations in Morgan, Berkeley, and Jefferson Counties later this year.  Charities seeking a grant need to apply by the September 17th deadline. Applications may be submitted on-line, in person, or by mail by following the instructions on the Community Foundation website at www.EWVCF.org.

Individuals interested in joining the Two Rivers Giving Circle as a grantmaker should contact Michael Whalton, executive director of the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation, at (304) 264-0353. Cost of membership is $500 annually. A portion of all memberships is earmarked for the endowment at the Community Foundation, however, most of the gift goes directly to the grantmaking program. In an effort to increase the Two Rivers Giving Circle endowment, an anonymous donor has pledged $2,500 over five years ($500 each year) for a dollar-for-dollar match of gifts of $50 to $250 which will go directly to the endowed fund which supports the Giving Circle.

The Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation was founded in 1995 and serves Jefferson, Berkeley, and Morgan Counties.  It provides financial stewardship for more than 150 component funds and holds approximately $15 million in endowments. Community foundations number more than 700 across America and attract gifts and bequests to benefit local communities through everlasting endowment. To learn more about the Eastern West Virginia Community Foundation contact executive director Michael Whalton at [email protected] or by phone at 304-264-0353.