Alaska State Council on the Arts — Artists in Schools Grants

This one pays for a musician to be in a school, but the money does not come to the musician. Artists in Schools funds residencies of two weeks or more in Alaskan schools, where a working artist teaches and performs alongside students, trains the teachers, and does something that reaches the wider community as well. For a musician it is a route to paid teaching work in villages and towns across the state rather than a grant you hold yourself.

The applicant has to be a school, a school district, or a nonprofit tax-exempt local arts partner working with one — which includes PTO and PTA groups, tribes and tribal nonprofits. If a nonprofit, parent group or tribe applies, it must attach a letter on school or district letterhead explaining how the residency supports the approved arts curriculum and how the two organisations are building the residency together. Anyone who has not applied before must speak to the programme administrator before submitting.

The Council does not publish an award range or a match requirement on this page; the figures sit in the guidelines inside its online grant system, so budget for a look there before you plan. Round 2 closes 1 November, with decisions at the trustees' quarterly meeting straight after; the FY27 first round is currently paused while ASCA rewrites its grant programmes. Assessors look for residencies that extend the arts curriculum and Alaska State Arts Standards, tie into other subjects, give teachers professional development they can reuse, and connect the school to its community. Applicants are strongly encouraged to hire from the Statewide Teaching Artist Roster, which is offline while it is updated.