North Kingstown wins $134,033 arts initiative grant; district to allocate funds across art and music programs

The North Kingstown School Department announced at the March 4 meeting that it has been awarded a $134,033 Arts Initiative grant from the Rhode Island Department of Education to support music and visual arts programs.

Superintendent Dr. Duva noted Fish and Cove Elementary recently raised $6,800 for leukemia and lymphoma research as an example of school-based arts and community service initiatives. The arts grant award will be distributed across elementary, middle and high school art and music programs, the administration said; principals and fine-arts coordinators provided requests for equipment and programming and the district has sought to allocate funds equitably by school level.

Requested purchases include iPads and digital art supplies for elementary classes, pottery equipment and pottery wheels, digital resources and storage cabinetry for high-school art, and several musical instruments for the district music program, including baritone and tenor saxophones and a marching bell set. Administrators said elementary art funds will be similarly distributed across buildings so each elementary art program receives a comparable allocation.

The administration said it will compile the final purchase orders and post a spreadsheet showing specific items and dollar amounts; the School Committee asked for the preliminary request list and an updated list showing what is actually purchased once procurement is complete.

Ending: District staff will finalize purchase orders, share a spreadsheet of proposed allocations and then publish the final allocations once procurement is complete. No committee action was required to accept the grant award at this meeting.