Boys & Girls Clubs of America Taking Arts Programs to the Next Level with The Wallace Foundation

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[IN] ART EDU

[SU] NPT CHI

-- WITH PHOTO -- TO ARTS, EDUCATION, AND NATIONAL EDITORS:

Boys & Girls Clubs of America Taking Arts Programs to the Next Level

with The Wallace Foundation

ATLANTA and NEW YORK, March 20, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Boys &

Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) and The Wallace Foundation today

announced a partnership to provide innovative, high-quality arts

programming for underserved youth that stimulates learning, inspires

creativity and encourages self-expression. The largest arts funder in

BGCA's history, The Wallace Foundation has made a $5.35 million,

two-and-a-half year commitment to BGCA to launch the Youth Arts

Initiative in Boys & Girls Clubs.

Over the next three years, the Youth Arts Initiative will develop

programs based on 10 principles of high-quality arts programming in

select Boys & Girls Clubs across the nation. Described in Wallace's

report, Something to Say: Success Principles for Afterschool Arts

Programs from Urban Youth and Other Experts, these principles were

derived from a study of exemplary arts organizations serving youth,

interviews with leading experts in arts education and youth

development, and more than 150 interviews with "tweens" about what

they want in arts programs. The principles will serve as guideposts

for the design of innovative programming for tweens at Boys & Girls

Clubs.

In keeping with Wallace's approach of both delivering local benefits

and generating knowledge useful to the field as a whole, Wallace has

commissioned an independent evaluation of BGCA's Youth Arts Initiative

from Research for Action in Philadelphia that will be shared with the

youth development field. The aim is to develop evidence about

outcomes for participating youth and how organizations can implement

quality arts programs.

The grant to BGCA represents initial funding of an $11.9 million,

four-and-a-half year program with subsequent grants conditional on

satisfactory completion of funded work.

"Young people who participate in the arts are more likely to succeed

in everything from learning to life, yet access to quality arts

education continues to decline, especially for the youth Clubs serve,"

said Jim Clark, president and CEO of BGCA. "Through our partnership

with The Wallace Foundation, we are expanding access to these vital

arts experiences for children from disadvantaged circumstances, thus

helping to level the playing field for their future success."

Research shows that involvement in the arts can help promote essential

skills including problem-solving, self-expression, teamwork and

persistence. However, according to a 2011 National Endowment for the

Arts study, Arts Education in America: What the Declines Mean for Arts

Participation, children from low-income families are 50 percent less

likely to participate in arts programs in school than youth from

affluent families. Evidence suggests a similar picture for afterschool

opportunities, including the arts. A 2009 Census Bureau survey (A

Child's Day 2009) found that between 38 percent and 44 percent of

children from higher-income families, those with annual income of

$72,000, were enrolled in lessons, clubs or sports outside of school.

But among children from the lowest income families, those with annual

income of less than $18,000, enrollment fell to 20 percent or less.

"Youth from low-income families deserve the same opportunities for

arts education as their higher-income peers," said Daniel Windham,

director of arts at The Wallace Foundation. "With this grant to BGCA,

which recognizes its strong, existing commitment to the arts, we hope

to learn more about how to widen access to high-quality arts education

in the afterschool hours so that all children can reap its benefits."

Wallace's 10 success principles will serve as the foundation of the

Youth Arts Initiative to take Boys & Girls Clubs' programming to the

next level with professional artist guides; newly designed studio

spaces; state-of-art equipment and technology; and public, culminating

events that recognize talented youth. All programming will be designed

and adapted with direct youth input and feedback.

In celebration of March as Youth Art Month, the Youth Arts

Initiative's initial programs were launched at three Boys & Girls Club

organizations with more organizations to be added in the coming years.

-- Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay is focused first on digital music

production.

-- Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Minnesota is focused first on hip hop

and step dance.

-- Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee is focused first on hip hop

and step dance.

Since 2009, more than 1.3 million kids have engaged in art activities

at Boys & Girls Clubs across the country. To learn more about arts

programs at BGCA, visit www.GreatFutures.org.

Click here to read the key findings of the Something to Say: Success

Principles for Afterschool Arts Programs from Urban Youth and Other

Experts report from The Wallace Foundation.

About Boys & Girls Clubs of America

For more than 100 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of America

(GreatFutures.org) has enabled young people most in need to achieve

great futures as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Today, more

than 4,000 Clubs serve nearly 4 million young people annually through

Club membership and community outreach. Clubs are located in cities,

towns, public housing and on Native lands throughout the country, and

serve military families in BGCA-affiliated Youth Centers on U.S.

military installations worldwide. They provide a safe place, caring

adult mentors, fun, friendship, and high-impact youth development

programs on a daily basis during critical non-school hours. Priority

programs emphasize academic success, good character and citizenship,

and healthy lifestyles. In a Harris Survey of alumni, 57 percent said

the Club saved their lives. National headquarters are located in

Atlanta. Learn more

at http://www.bgca.org/facebook and http://bgca.org/twitter.

About The Wallace Foundation

The Wallace Foundation is an independent, national foundation

dedicated to supporting and sharing effective ideas and practices that

expand learning and enrichment opportunities for children. The

Foundation maintains an online library of lessons at

www.wallacefoundation.org about what it has learned, including

knowledge from its current efforts aimed at: strengthening educational

leadership to improve student achievement; helping disadvantaged

students gain more time for learning through summer learning and

through the effective use of additional learning time during the

school day and year; enhancing out-of-school time opportunities; and

building appreciation and demand for the arts.

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SOURCE Boys & Girls Clubs of America

-0- 03/20/2014

/CONTACT: Annette Filliat, APR, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, 404-487-5948, afilliat@bgca.org; Lucas Bernays Held, The Wallace Foundation, 212-251-9782, lheld@wallacefoundation.org

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/Web Site: http://www.bgca.org

CO: Boys & Girls Clubs of America; The Wallace Foundation

ST: Georgia New York

IN: ART EDU

SU: NPT CHI

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-- DC87099 --