Self-sustainment of partnerships between arts organizations and schools: Arts Plus Initiative program

The National Endowment for the Arts: Arts Plus Initiative awarded twenty-eight arts organizations with three-year grant awards to help move the arts toward inclusion as a basic element of pre-K-12 education, through self-sustaining curricula programs. The questions that this thesis address are as follows: What management factors led to the self-sustainability of the Arts Plus Initiative? What initiatives used effective planning, facilitation and implementation strategies? What was the impact of the Arts Plus Initiatives on students, teachers, artists, parents, administrators, and the community? Did professional development for teachers and artist lead to self-sustaining Arts Plus Initiatives? Which arts organizations believed the NEA funding was enough to sustain the program for three years? What types of curriculum have been developed and documented as a result of the Arts Plus Initiative?