PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Mass Cultural Council announced the 299 recipients of the Fiscal Year 2024 STARS Residencies grants. 

 

This $1,502,450 investment will place teaching artists, scientists, and humanists, into schools, bringing cultural enrichment to more than 32,000 Massachusetts students.

 

"Connecting young people to creativity and a broad range of cultural experiences helps students develop essential skills that set them up for future success," said Michael J. Bobbitt, Executive Director, Mass Cultural Council. "The academic enrichment provided through STARS does exactly that by challenging students in new ways and encouraging them to tap into their inner creative potential to think, learn, and solve challenges."

 

This year, Mass Cultural Council's STARS (Students and Teachers working with Artists, Scientists, and Scholars) Residencies awards range from $2,500 to $6,100. These grants support residencies of three days or more and provide creative learning opportunities in the arts, sciences, and humanities for students in grades K-12. 

 

In Berkshire County, Flying Cloud Institute of Morningside Community School received a grant.

 

This multidisciplinary science residency led by teaching artist Angel Heffernan will work with 50 4th grade students over the course of a week at Morningside Community School. Students undergo a hands-on learning experience that covers 4 of their grade-specific physical science energy standards through dynamic movement, investigative science, and artmaking. For example, students explore the concept of mechanical energy through dance by experimenting with how much distance they can move during a timed musical phrase. FCI educators will guide students through Laws of Motion experiments and students will craft original vehicles and test their mass, momentum, speed, and force. This residency will give youth the language to describe the physical movement of their bodies as they interact with each other and the world around them.

 

Other schools and organizations in the county were also awarded grants including: 

 

Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public School ($6,100) - BART Musical Theatre Production: for over 30 students to learn and perform 20+ dance numbers for a spring musical.

 

Berkshire Theatre Group ($6,100) - BTG PLAYS! In School Residency Program: for the BTG PLAYS! In-School Residency Program to enable students with a variety of learning styles to develop, write, and present their own original plays. Muddy Brook Regional Elementary School, Great Barrington

 

Berkshires' Academy for Advanced Musical Studies ($3,250) - BAAMS Music Faculty Residency – Florida: for grades 4-8 students to receive instrumental, improvisation, and music composition education. Gabriel Abbott Memorial School, Florida

 

Craneville Elementary School ($4,750) - Rivers to Sea: Water Keepers and Caretakers: to teach 5th graders about water conservation and empowers them to develop solutions to increase their community's resiliency.

 

Crosby Elementary School ($6,100) - Life Cycles and Weather in the Berkshires: to connect third grade students with an earth and life science specialist from Mass Audubon for a series of in-person explorations.

 

Hancock Public Schools ($5,650) One World Festival of Storytelling: to guide students through a series of experiential "playshops" from which they learn, shape, polish, and present folktales from around the world.

 

Jana Laiz ($2,950) - Inspired By Melville: to introduce students to the rich literary history of Berkshire County, primarily focusing on Berkshire's own Herman Melville, his life and works and his unique perspective of place. Brayton Elementray School North Adams.

 

Jana Laiz ($3850) - Inspired By Melville: to inspire students to author their own stories by introducing them to the rich literary history of Berkshire County, primarily focusing on Pittsfield's own Herman Melville, his life and works and his unique perspective of place. Williams Elementary School, Pittsfield

 

Jana Laiz ($2,500) - Pen To Paper – The Art of Writing: for students to learn the mechanics of writing, including storytelling, opening lines, creating realistic dialogue, character development, using rich vocabulary, editing, critiquing, and finishing a story. Undermountain Elementary School, Sheffield

 

Morningside Community School ($2,500) -  S•M•Art Energy: Where Science Meets Art!: for a hands-on learning experience, which covers grade-specific Physical Science energy standards, to explore the transfer of energy and lead a showcase of learning for their school peers in grades one to three.

 

Pine Cobble School ($2,500) - Hoosac Tunnel, How It Altered Life in the Berkshires and Beyond: for students to learn how the Hoosac Tunnel was built in the 1800s, the technology developed to execute its completion, and its impact on the diversity and environment of the Berkshires and beyond.

 

Pittsfield High School ($4,750) - Rooted in Solutions: Trees and Climate Change: to enable environmental science students to complete a forest carbon study on their school grounds.

 

Robert T. Capeless Elementary School ($6,100) - Water and Weather in the Berkshires: to teach 3rd and 5th-grade students about water and weather through hands-on learning opportunities.

 

Silvio O. Conte Community School ($4,750) -  Weather and Aquatic Life Cycles: to connect 3rd grade students with an earth and life science specialist from Mass Audubon for a series of in-person explorations.

 

Stearns Elementary School ($6,100) - Water and Weather in the Berkshires: to teach 3rd and 5th grade students at Stearns Elementary School about water and weather through hands-on learning opportunities and empowers them to develop solutions to increase their community's resiliency.

 

Tamarack Hollow Nature and Cultural Center in Windsor ($5,650) - World music, drum, dance and song cultural exploration: for 4th and 5th grade students to learn traditional West African & Caribbean drum, song and dance.

 

The Berkshire Museum ($2,650) -  Supporting Project Lead the Way Science Education at Hoosac Valley Middle School with Mobile Museum Units: for STEAM-centric Mobile Museum Unit programming to support the Project Lead the Way program. Hoosac Valley Middle School, Cheshire

 

The Berkshire Museum ($2,500) - Bringing Mobile Museum Units to Hoosac Valley Elementary: bring Berkshire Museum's Mobile Museum Units to Greylock Elementary School, sparking examination, experimentation, and exploration through object-based learning and museum-educator led activation sessions. Greylock Elementary School, North Adams

 

In this FY24 grant round, Mass Cultural Council reviewed a record 390 applications requesting nearly $2 million in funding, surpassing a previous high set just last year.

 

To maximize the impact of this limited funding, the program guidelines outlined four priority criteria. In alignment with the Agency's strategic plan and goal to advance equity across the creative and cultural sector with its grantmaking practices, Mass Cultural Council is pleased to note this year:

 

"Through these grants, we are expanding the horizon for our students from STEM to STEAM – including the arts alongside science, technology, engineering, and mathematics," said Bobbitt. "Where STEM lays the foundation for innovation, STEAM paints the masterpiece of progress, adding the vital strokes of creativity and imagination to our education system, transforming knowledge into boundless possibilities."

 

In FY24, STARS Residencies will bring practicing artists, scientists, and humanists to classrooms located within 299 schools across the state. A complete funding list and project descriptions for the FY24 STARS Residencies program is available online.