STARS Residencies Program for Cultural Partners in Massachusetts - fundsforNGOs

Mass Cultural Council has published the STARS Residencies program for the 2022-2023 school year.

Donor Name: Mass Cultural Council

State: Massachusetts

Type of Grant: Grant

Deadline: 10/25/2022

Size of the Grant: $6,100

Details:

STARS Residencies support creative learning residencies of 3 days or more at Massachusetts K-12 schools in the arts, sciences, and humanities with teaching artists, scientists, or humanists. Any Massachusetts school serving grades K-12 is eligible to host one residency per school year.

Mass Cultural Council has made important changes to the FY23 STARS Residencies program as part of their commitment to equity, access, and inclusion across all programs. Starting this year:

Cultural Partners can now apply! For the sake of greater access, cultural sector individuals, such as teaching artists/scientists/humanists or non-profit organizations can now apply directly for STARS funding. This means that grant funds would be paid to the individual cultural partner or the non-profit organization. NOTE: All applications must have a school partner to be eligible.
They have increased the minimum grant amount from $700 to $2,500. They’ve made this change in recognition of the time and work required to prepare an application.
To improve equity, they will prioritize applications from:
First-time applicants or applicants that have not received funding from Mass Cultural Council in the last three fiscal years.
Schools that are located in cities and towns that are below the state’s median household income and below statewide educational attainment (the percentage of adults who have attained at least a bachelor’s degree). A full list of these under-resourced communities is available.
Schools with student populations that are 50% or more Black, Indigenous, and/or People of Color (BIPOC) as reported by DESE. (Data Source (2021-2022.) Look up your school online.
In order to ensure that as many applicants as possible can receive funding, if necessary, they may further prioritize applicants not receiving other FY23 Mass Cultural Council funding and/or they may prioritize applicants that submitted only one STARS application.

Funding Information

Minimum Grant: The minimum grant amount for this program is $2,500 for all approved applications that meet the eligibility and session requirements.
Maximum Grant: The maximum grant amount for this program is $6,100 for all approved applications, even if the number of sessions in the project would bring the total above that maximum.

Eligibility Criteria

Funded residencies are a partnership between schools and cultural partners. Cultural partners can be either independent teaching artists, scientists, or humanists, or a non-profit organization that provides the teaching artist, scientist or humanist, as long as the organization names the residency leader in the application.
Please decide beforehand who will submit the application for the proposed residency. Applicants may designate a co-applicant in the application. Only one residency per school will be considered. If two applications are submitted involving the same school, the school principal will be contacted and asked to identify the one application the school will support. The other application will not be reviewed.
They encourage you to apply if you are: A Massachusetts public, charter, or private school serving grades K-12. The school must be recognized by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) with a 2022-2023 ESE School ID.
A Cultural Partner: An independent teaching artist/scientist/humanist residing in Massachusetts (this does not include school personnel).
A Massachusetts non-profit organization. (Must name the teaching artist/scientist/humanist who is leading the residency in the application.)
Residency Eligibility
- The residency is eligible if it:
  - Involves a school recognized by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
  - Is led by a teaching artist, scientist, and/or humanist from outside the school.
  - Has been approved by the school principal and the teaching artist, scientist, and/or humanist leading the residency.
  - Is one unified residency that focuses on the arts, sciences, and/or humanities.
  - Includes a minimum of one (1) session between the teaching artist, scientist, or humanist and their students on three (3) separate days-
  - Starts no earlier than September 1, 2022 and ends no later than June 30, 2023.
  - Includes planning time between the cultural partner and school representatives prior to and during the residency. (Each grant includes a $250 one-time stipend to pay the cultural partner for this planning time.)
  - Has a residency plan that articulates three clear Learning Objectives, one of which must be a Socially Conscious Learning Objective.