SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS
In response to the elimination or severe reduction of funding for arts education in local area school districts, South Shore Arts began scholarship programs that brought artistically gifted students from Hammond, Gary and East Chicago to the Center for Visual and Performing Arts in Munster for after-school art classes. In 1999, South Shore Arts expanded these programs to include students from Lowell and Cedar Lake in classes at the South Shore Arts branch in Crown Point. These programs have been especially important because often those students who most need the benefits of individualized exposure and training in the arts are often the least able to afford them.

South Shore Arts's most ambitious scholarship to date is with the School City of East Chicago. In the 2002/03 school year, at the request of the Foundations of East Chicago and School City, South Shore Arts expanded an after-school art enrichment program for elementary aged students who had been without art for nearly a decade and whose music instruction was eliminated in 2001. South Shore Arts provided 16 weeks of visual art, music, drama and dance in seven schools, Mondays through Thursdays, to 560 4th-6th graders. At the end, a culminating perfromace and exhbit were presented in each school for administrators, teachers, parents and friends. In the 2001/02 pilot year, the program ran only 10 weeks in four host schools, served 320 students and culminated with one exhibit/performance. Based on evaluation, transportation, which was deemed unsuccessful, was elimated, more artists were hired as teachers, parents were given roles to perform in home practice, aides were employed to help ensure the health and safety of students and more students were featured in exhibit/performances.

If your organization or school is interested in creating a custom-made art program, take a look at our fee schedule and examples of current outreach programs. South Shore Arts welcomes the opportunity to work with your school or organization.