ArtsNOW Awarded $3.98 Million Federal Grant to Expand Early Literacy through Arts Integration
ArtsNOW is proud to announce the award of a $3.98 million Assistance for Arts Education grant from the U.S. Department of Education to support a new initiative to strengthen early literacy through arts integration. The five-year project, Expanding Creativity in Early Literacy through Arts Integration (EXCEL), will run from October 2025 through September 2030.
ArtsNOW was one of only five organizations nationwide selected to receive this highly competitive federal award. As a nationally recognized nonprofit in arts integration, ArtsNOW will lead the project across multiple states, expanding its impact in elementary schools through research-based literacy strategies that connect the arts with core academic instruction.
The project will partner with six schools across three regions: Fulton County Schools in Georgia; Jefferson County Schools in Alabama; and Spartanburg 1 School District in South Carolina.
“Literacy is foundational to every child’s success,” said Pamela Walker, President and CEO of ArtsNOW. “This grant allows us to deepen our work with teachers and demonstrate how arts integration can strengthen reading and writing instruction while increasing student engagement and confidence.”
A Creative Approach to Literacy Learning
Through EXCEL, ArtsNOW will work closely with educators to integrate the arts into daily literacy instruction. Teachers will participate in sustained, job-embedded professional learning that includes one-on-one coaching and reflection, lesson modeling, collaborative planning, and arts-integrated lesson development and demonstration.
School leaders will also engage in professional learning designed to strengthen their understanding of, and support for, integrated learning. All work aligns with state and national academic standards and emphasizes inquiry-based learning.
Students participating in the EXCEL project will experience literacy instruction that connects reading and writing with visual arts, music, dance, and theatre. These strategies help students build vocabulary, strengthen comprehension, and develop critical thinking skills while making learning more engaging.
The initiative is designed to achieve four key outcomes. The project seeks to increase the percentage of students reading on grade level and scoring proficient or higher on state Reading and Language Arts assessments. It will increase teachers’ confidence in, and use of, arts-integrated instructional strategies. The initiative will also build the leadership capacity of principals and district staff to sustain arts-integrated learning. Finally, teacher leaders will develop more than 400 arts-integrated literacy lessons to share with educators beyond the participating schools.
Building Capacity for Long-Term Impact
EXCEL includes six elementary schools, with more than 120 teachers participating each year in at least 72 hours of professional learning and coaching. In addition, 36 teacher leaders and six principals will participate in more than 100 hours of arts-integrated professional learning, resource development, coaching, and professional networking.
Through these efforts, participating educators will strengthen literacy instruction for more than 4,000 students over the life of the grant.
Digital resources developed during the project will expand the reach of the work beyond participating schools. Lesson units, video demonstrations, and professional learning materials will be made available to educators seeking practical ways to integrate the arts into literacy instruction.
The EXCEL project builds on ArtsNOW’s nationally recognized model for arts integration and represents another major step in expanding access to creative, high-quality learning experiences for students across the Southeast.